Milo All Stars International Junior Championship
Ramit, Vikram bag titles, good show by Indians
June 2nd , Vikram Malhotra and Ramit Tandon bagged
titles in the Milo All Stars International Junior Championship at Kuala
Lumpur. The finals of Under 11 event saw a tough fight
between Ramit Tandon (W. Bengal) and Ahmad Khairul (Mal). In the
five-setter Ramit showed he is the best when he beat Ahmad 9-4, 7-9, 7-9,
9-5, 9-4, while Vikram Malhotra (Mah) beat Jerry Foo (Mal) in boy's
under-13 title in a straight 3 setter 9-6, 9-5, 9-7.
There were 393 entries, from all major countries in
the region Australia, India,
Sri Lanka, Korea, Singapore, and Hong Kong. The Indian consignment of 52
players was the largest sent by any country.
(Scores on page 4)
Balamurugan makes squash history
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In a historic decision a professional (marker),
Chennai's Balamurugan, was picked in the Indian team for the Asian Squash
Championships in Kuala Lumpur next month. Bala, 23, ranked No.8, shocked Dhiraj Singh a member of last year's team, 3-0 in the trials in Chennai and followed it up by beating Navneet Narain, another top five-ranker player, 3-1. He also took Bikram Uberoi to five sets. Bala has been a pro at the India Cements Academy in Chennai. Indian team coach Cyrus Poncha, said from Chennai on eve of the team's departure's said: "Bala 'killed' Dhiraj, so brilliantly did he pay." The coach was sure Bala would play in the event. "We will have to rotate the players." |
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Indian pros have been doing well of late, taking inspiration from the likes of Shyamlal Verma, Francis and lately, Chandrakant Pawar who helped from the Indian Squash Professionals. It has given the pros a higher stature than before with exclusive tournaments for them as well as clinics under reputed coaches.
Bala beat Mahesh Verma at the last Nationals in Chennai. He first won the Chennai Pro tournament in 1997 followed by wins at Calcutta in 1998, Mumbai the next year and the Maharashtra State Open in 2000.
Singapore Wilson Junior Open Squash
VIKRAM, HARINDER PAL & RAMIT TANDON SHINES AGAIN
June 8th, Vikram Malhotra
beat Vincent Chew (Mal) 9-3, 9-1, 9-2 in a one sided match to claim
his second Under-13 title in the fortnight. A beneficiary of the
Mid-Day-Petra Foundation Programme where in Squash players from Mumbai
train at KualaLumpur for a fortnight.
Vikram romped home comfortably, and secured his second Title after
the Milo Open Junior Squash.
In the Under-15 event, Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu (Chandigarh)
claimed his second International title, beating Marcus Phua (Sin)
9-0, 9-5, 9-0 in a one-sided match.
Ramit Tandon (Calcutta) beat Aditya Jagtap (Mah) 9-0, 9-0, 9-2 in the Under-11 Section. In the Girls's section, V. Anvesha finished 4th in Under-13, as did Shrutty Reddy in the Under-15 Section. Sonali Phillips finished 6th in the Under-19 section, playing an age group well above her actual group.
ISP-JUHU Centaur Doubles Handicap Squash
Salim Mistry & Mukesh Desai Supreme
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May 12th, Fifty year old Salim Mistry and
MukeshDesai of Juhu Centaur gave the younger duo Sadiq & Nusrat
Madraswala of CCI a tough fight . They
were 2-1 up and in the fourth game were leading but the youngsters fought
hard to be 2 all. In the decider the youngsters were leading 9-3 but never to
say die pair of Salim & Mukesh beat them by 15-10 thus clinching the
title for the first time in their squash careers. (Scores on page 4)
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The 1st Raju Chainani's Squash Coaching Camp for
juniors held at A-H Ansari Squash Academy, (Andheri Sports Complex) ended
on May 30. The camp proved to be a good learning experience for most
newcomers, including four-and a-half- year old Harsh Hemnani, who was
spotted as one of the brightest ones. On the concluding day there was a
tournament amongst the participants. Brigadier Chainani, father of the
late journalist Raju Chainani was the chief guest and he gave away
certificates to all the participants and winners. |
 Brig Chainani giving away certificate to Harsh Hemnani |