NEWS LETTER OF THE INDIAN SQUASH PROFESSIONALS           Vol 4 No.1 Issue No.13 January 2000

WEBSITE: www.ispsquash.com                                  E-MAIL : squashindia@hotmail.com 

DIRECTORS: MAHENDRA AGARWAL/ NARENDRA GOUR (I.R.S.) CHANDRAKANT PAWAR. OUR HONORARY MEMBERS: NAVNEET SONI(I.R.S.) / BHARAT BHUSHAN (I.R.S.) / SAIFEE JANI (M.D. JANI SALES LTD.) / RAJESH LIHALA( M.D. SHIVA MARKETING LTD) / RAKESH LAKHANPAL (M.D. S.S.KNITTING IND.) MUKESH BABU(CHAIRMAN, MUKESH BABU SECURITIES LTD)HONOURED  PATRONS:VIVEK NAIR (VICE CHAIRMAN & MD THE LEELA)/SAJJAN JINDAL VICE CHAIRMAN & M.D. JINDAL GROUP OF COMPANIES)
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Chotrani,Subedar,Anvekar,Uberoi make it Jai Maharashtra at Chennai

The Winners of the Nationals played at Chennai 
Mekhala Subedar (Women), Manish Chotrani (Men),Bikram Uberoi(Boys U-19) & Deepali Anvekar (Girls U-19) 

 Mumbai may have been deprived of staging the first big squash event of the millennium, the Indian Open, but their players made amends by bringing home the four titles that count at the India Cements National Squash in Chennai. Manish Chotrani toppled the top seed Delhi's Ritwik Bhattacharya with a display that connoisseurs found innovative, incisive and immaculate, which the scoreline of 9-4, 9- 1, 9-5 may not indicate. Manish had not beaten the India junior international before, having lost to him in the State Open final in Mumbai. He then had the humiliation of being scratched from the Western India for turning up late. Chotrani has been the bridesmaid to Akhil Behl in the Mumbai events in recent years and Behl's going to the U.S. left the door open for winning the elusive title.It had to come this year for in years to come the fast-maturing juniors would be physically far tougher to handle for the 28-year-old Manish. The first game set the trend for the final. Ritwik made early mistakes and Manish made him pay for them with a relentless attack without sacrificing accuracy. In the last two games, Manish came through as composed, consistent and crafty. 
The final may have turned on its But Manish forced his rival into errors both up front and at the back and the Gen. Rajendrasinhji Commander-in-Chief trophy was back where it belonged, Mumbai, which has had more titles that the other states puttogether. The women gave another display of power squash that augurs well for their future. Mekhala Subedar of Devlali appears to be dominating the sport in the manner of ‘Candy' Bhuvaneshwari Kumari. But both Mekhala and the other finalist, Deepali Anvekar are faster about court than Bhuvaneshwari. Deepali had taken a game off her rival at the Western India. But as at the CCI, so at the MCC courts, her unwitting obstructions came in the way of a tighter final which may have lasted longer than the 36 minutes it did. It was a hat-trick of triumphs for Mekhala. Deepali had a consolation in winning the under-19 title beating Vaidehi Reddy on her home courts. For Bikram Uberoi this tournament will mark a watershed. He put to use his training at Rhode Island in his gruelling encounters against Services stalwarts Rajdeep Brar and Anuj Kalia. He scalped fifth seed Brar in the pre-quarters and fourth-seed Kalia in the quarters. In the semi-finals he even took a game off Ritwik who was forced to revert to a safe, error-free game thereafter to make the final. After such a grand show winning the under-19 title was a piece of cake for Uberoi. He beat Mihir Kapoor in the final. The hero of Maharashtra's inter-state campaign where they lost to Services in the final, Kapoor couldn't make an impression in the second and third games. While they won the big four titles, Mumbai were left ruminating on the three that got away. Tamil Nadu's Rajiv Reddy, a recent India coach, stopped the Mumbai sweep, beating B.I. Singh of Delhi in the over-45 final. As did Rajdeep Brar beating Vaman Apte in the over-35 final and U.P.'s Dalip Tripathi in the professionals final beating the popular Otters pro Santosh More. Two Maharashtra players didn't win anything but there is promise of doing so in the near future. Anshul Manchanda, son of the national champion Raj, extended Gajendra Singh Rathore in the second round match before the Rajasthan player won 3-9, 9- 4, 9-4, 9-7. And in the girls under-19 Priyanka Yadav was third time lucky beating Supriya Balsekar to whom she had lost narrowly twice last year.

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