Mumbai : Unseeded Veer Chotrani of Maharashtra scored an upset 3-0 win against statemate and second seed Rahul Baitha in a boys’ under-17 pre-quarter-final round match in the NSCI Indian Classic Junior Open Squash Championship 2016, an SRFI 4-Star sanctioned and an ASF Silver event, and which is being conducted and hosted by NSCI at their glass-back courts on Thursday evening.
Playing aggressively and with lots of confidence, Veer controlled the rallies and capitalized on the mistakes of Baitha, who often hit the tin and was unable to come to grips with his game. With Rahul not able to put up much of a fight Veer strolled to an 11-6, 11-8, 11-9 win and move to the round of 8.
Top seed Tushar Shahani of Maharashtra defeated Abdur Rehman of Delhi 11-9, 11-7, 8-11, 11-5 to book his place in the quarter-final.
Earlier, Maharashtra lads, Deepak Mandal and Tanay Punjabi, exhibited tremendous fighting qualities to register hard-fought victories and progress to quarter-final round of the boys’ under-15 main draw.
The energetic Deepak quelled a strong fight from Delhi’s Tejas Chawla and went on to script a well-earned 12-10, 15-17, 11-4, 11-9 win in 55 minutes. Deepak started on a positive note to pocket first game but in the second he committed some errors which allowed Tejas to come back as he won the game to level scores. However, Deepak regained his form and went on to win the next two games on the trot to close out the match.
Meanwhile in a match of fluctuating fortunes, Tanay was made to work extra hard and was taken the distance by Diwakar Singh of Uttar Pradesh before he managed to clinch a satisfying 11-7, 11-5, 8-11, 8-11, 12-10 victory in 35 minutes.
Another Maharashtra player Advait Adik also advanced to the last 8 round. Advait the joint 3rd/4th seed easily accounted for Karnataka’s Tarun Mammen winning in straight games at 11-5, 11-7, 11-5 in about 18 minutes.
