Saurav Ghosal, Joshna Chinappa Ease Into National Squash Championship Semis

Favourites Saurav Ghosal and Joshna Chinappa fashioned comfortable wins to enter the semifinals of the 62nd Senior National Squash Championship & 71st CCI-Western India Junior Open Tournament at the Cricket Club of India on Thursday.

Chinappa lived up to her reputation with a 3-0 win over girls under-15 junior national champion Nikita Joshi of Maharashtra and led second seed Sachika Ingale of UP, third seed Urwashi Joshi of Maharashtra and under-17 national runner-up Aakanksha Salunkhe of Goa into the semifinals.

India No. 1 Ghosal tamed Vijay Kumar of Tamil Nadu 3-0 to set up a last-four clash with Ravi Dixit, while Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu and India No. 2 Mahesh Mangaonkar will contest the other semifinal.

Dixit was stretched by Gaurav Nandrajog while dropping the second set and snatching a tight fourth by a whisker, while Harinder Pal halted Rishad Pandole of CCI with a 3-0 win and Mangaonkar rallied from the loss of the opening set to overcome Sandeep Jangra of the Services 3-1 following a close fourth set.

Results:

Sr. Nat: Men (Quarterfinals): 1-Saurav Ghosal (TN) bt Vijay Kumar (TN) 11-5, 11-6, 11-3; Ravi Dixit (TN) bt Gaurav Nandrajog (Del) 11-6, 2-11, 11-4, 11-9; Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu (TN) bt Rishad Pandole (Mah) 11-2, 11-6, 11-2; 2-Mahesh Mangaonkar (Mah) bt Sandeep Jangra (Ser) 9-11, 11-5, 11-8, 11-5.

Women (Quarterfinals): 1-Joshna Chinappa (TN) bt Nikita Joshi (Mah) 11-8, 11-3, 11-5; Akanksha Salunkhe (Goa) bt Adya Advani (Del) 3-11, 11-7, 8-11, 12-10, 11-8; Urvashi Joshi (Mah) bt Ashita Pranaya Bhengra (TN) 11-7, 11-9, 11-6; 2-Sachika Ingale (UP) bt Sunayna Kuruvilla (TN) 11-8, 11-7, 11-9.

Professional (Quarterfinals): 1-Parthiban Ayyappan (TN) bt Manish Chavan (Mah) 11-5, 11-2, 11-7; Sanjay Pawar (Mah) bt Sandeep Yadav (WB) 3-11, 11-3, 11-2, 11-4; B. Balamurugan (TN) bt Shakir Husain (Del) 11-8, 11-9, 11-9; 2-Paramit Singh (Del) bt Deepesh Borhade (Mah) 11-5, 11-4, 14-12.

CCI-Western India Junior Open: All Quarterfinals: U-9: Siddhant Rewari (Mah) bt Samar Gandhi (Mah) 11-5, 11-1, 11-0; Raunak Phophaliya (Raj) bt Ekambir Singh (Mah) 11-2, 11-9, 11-4; 2-Aditya Chandani (Mah) bt Ayaan Vaziralli (Mah) 11-9, 11-6, 9-11, 11-8.

Girls U-11: 1-Yuvna Gupta (Mah) bt Saisha Gupta (Mah) 11-7, 11-4, 11-5; Gigi Pandole (Mah) bt Skandha Dogra (Mah) 11-4, 11-6, 11-3; N Mounisha (TN) bt Archita Singh (Mah) 11-5, 11-1, 11-6; 2-Pooja Arthi R. (TN) bt S Akshaya Sri (TN) 11-7, 11-3, 11-4.

Boys U-11: 1-Jeh Pandole (Mah) bt Sharan Punjabi (Mah) 11-1, 11-5, 11-6; Jay Vaknalli (Mah) bt Aaryaman Jaising (Mah) 11-1, 8-11, 6-11, 11-4, 11-7; Ekam Singh (Chg) bt Ishaan Singh (Raj) 9-11, 11-3, 11-3, 8-11, 12-10; 2-Shreyas Mehta (Mah) bt Paarth Ambani (Mah) 11-9, 11-3, 11-4.

Girls U-13: 1-Megha Bhatia (Del) bt Sarah Vethekar (Mah) 11-3, 11-6, 11-2; Ananya Dabke (Mah) bt Aryaa Ogale (Mah) 16-14, 11-5, 11-3; Anannya Morey (Mah) bt Krithica J.S. (TN) 11-8, 9-11, 11-2, 11-9; 2-Avani Nagar (Mah) bt Miraya Gupta (Mah) 11-5, 11-1, 11-2.

Boys U-13: 1-Yash Fadte (Goa) bt Yash Dhairyawan (Mah) 11-6, 11-3, 11-5; R. Kishore Arvind (TN) bt Aakash Gupta (Mah) 10-12, 11-4, 11-8, 13-11; Advait Adik (Mah) bt Tanay Punjabi (Mah) 11-9, 11-9, 11-6; 2-Navaneeth Prabhu Saravanakumar (TN) bt Deepak Mandal (Mah) 11-9, 8-11, 14-12, 6-11, 11-7.

Girls U-15: 1-Aakanksha Rao (Mah) bt Syrah Vaswani (Mah) 11-0, 11-1, 11-3; Mira Kamat (Mah) bt Shrishti Nagar (Mah) 11-13, 12-10, 11-8, 8-11, 11-9; Navmi Sharma (Mah) bt Abhilasha Bhasin (Mah) 11-3, 11-7, 11-8; 2-Diya Joukani (Mah) bt Alisha Vohra (Mah) 11-2, 11-1, 11-1.

Girls U-17: 1-Jui Kalgutkar (Mah) bt Aditi Prasad (Mah) 11-7, 11-4, 11-1; Ashita Pranaya Bhengra (TN) bt Diya Sanghi (Mah) 11-3, 11-3, 11-4; Sunayna Kuruvilla (TN) bt Sanika Choudhari (Mah) 11-2, 11-3, 11-5; 2-Aishwarya Bhattacharya (Mah) bt Aaradhana Kasturiraj (TN) 11-2, 11-3, 11-2.