(For Private Circulation only)  

Vol 6 No 2 Issue No 22 April 2002

NEWS LETTER OF THE INDIAN SQUASH PROFESSIONALS
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 MUKESHBABU SECURITIES LTD.)  HONOURED PATRONS: VIVEK NAIR (VC & MD THE LEELA) / SAJJAN JINDAL (vc & m.d JINDAL GROUP OF COMPANIES) • ADVISOR: P. K. VIJAYAKAR  

Website: www.ispsquash.com E-mail: squashindia@hotmail.com & squashindia@yahoo.com ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
 
Inter State Squash Championship , Calcutta 7-1-2002
State lads make it three in a row 
The Services team was a pale shadow of the one of the past. That left Maharashtra little challenge as they swept to their third title in the row in the Inter state squash at Kolkata. India No 2 Manish Chotrani was leading the side. They were favourites and lived up to the billing. The skipper said “We were the favourites, and this time we had better players.” The defending champions beat Services 3-0 in the final. Though Chotrani and Mahesh Verma dropped a game the state were seldom in danger of losing the final. On the other hand Bikram Uberoi was in top form winning without dropping a game. Services Capt Navneet Narain went down to Chotrani 9-7 9-3 6-9 9-7 in the opening tie. Uberoi trounced Rohit Teotia 9-1 9-4 9-7 and Verma put the issue beyond doubt beating Milan Khurana 9-5 9-4 5-9 3-9 9-4.    


The victorious Maharashtra team
The state title was in Mumbai for four years in a row, from 1995 to 1998, before they lost in 1999. The winning streak has continued since. The Services are not the same since Arjan Singh left them.Maharashtra beat the Services 5-0 rout in the last league tie in Pool `B' to finish on top of the pool, while the latter, who also qualified for the semi-finals, were second. Chotrani, the National champion in 2000, went into the inter-state without playing competitive squash since losing the December National final to India No 1 Ritwik Bhattacharya. Having brought glory to the state he now wants to get shipshape for the international events, notably the Asiad. 
Results of the Finals : Maharashtra bt Services 5-0: Manish Chotrani bt Capt Navneet Narian 9-7 9-3 6-9 9-7;Bikram Uberoi bt Capt Rohit Teotia 9-1 9-4 9-7; Mahesh Verma bt Capt Milan Khurana 9-5 9-4 5-9 3-9 9-4; Amitpal Kohli and Santosh More got walk overs. 
SEMI-FINALS: Maharashtra beat Delhi 'A' 4-1: Manish Chotrani beat Abhimanyu Jain 9-6 9-0 9-0; Bikram Uberoi beat Varun Kataruka 9-5 9-6 9-3; Amit Pal Kohli Lost to Amjad Khan 2-9 4-9 1-9; Saket Wali beat Yuvraj Kakkad 9-0 10-9 9-6; Mahesh Verma beat Suhail Sethi 9-0 9-0 9-0. 
Budding Squash Champ Meets Cricket Icon
It was a great day for budding squash star Vikram Malhotra when he met cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar at Hotel Regent. Sachin always has time for the young and he said he was happy to run into a young squash champ. He told Vikram that he too played a biut of squash but could not do so at present because of his hamstring problem.    


Vikram Malhotra with Sachin Tendulkar
Cricket and squash
The connection is old, not so much in India as abroad. In India players like Kapil Dev, Mohinder Amarnath have enjoyed the odd squash game. But abroad, most of the international players have played a lot of squash, especially the Pakistanis, notably like Wasim Bari, Majid Khan, Zaheer Abbas and others at the famous Jahangir Khan Sports Complex of PIA. But the name that comes to mind upper most is that of John Reid. This New Zealand captain of the 50 and 60s not only played the sport but also raised a squash centre that is a landmark in Wellington. 
Reid remains New Zealand's all-time great cricketer and is today an ICC match referee. He was here for the India -Zimbabwe series and talked, among other things, about his squash centre. ”The centre was opened in 1963, it has been sold in 1978 but remains a landmark in Wellington .'' 
The popularity of squash in New Zealand rocketed after Reid opened the centre. “I opened this centre and a dozen private squash clubs came up in the suburbs .Overseas stars like Heather Mackay and Geoff Hunt played there and Egyptian coach Dardir often ran clinics there.'' 
Before the centre opened Wellingtonians had just three choices-Government House, Wellington Club (on the terrace) and a private residence in Hutt Valley. Reid first played squash on the tour of England in 1949. `It helps cricket, shots like the overhead and crosscourt.'' He used his cricketing contacts to build the centre. When they the opening everyone present was allowed to have a go. The ball, rackets and shoes being provided free. Two courts had windows at the back wall, a precursor of our today's glass back courts/ Spectators could watch the game from those windows. He also had a restaurant, and a golf driving range was added. Reid says he was a B grade player but did a little coaching at the centre. Predictably he had trouble with the local association. They didn't like a cricketer straying into their game. So they threatened that they would brand every player playing there as a professional. Any he sold the complex in 1978 and built a built a golf complex. He sold that later and now runs a tourist complex, with house-boats and all at Lake Taupo. But the John Reid Squash Centre remains a landmark of Wellington. Would that we had a Sunil Gavaskar Squash Centre in Mumbai!

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