Mumbai: Gaint-killer, Yoshna Singh continued her onslaught on the seeded players as she is in for a double delight in the 44th Maharashtra State Senior Open Squash championship. At the Bombay Gymkhana Squash Courts here on Tuesday, the Maharashtra player won her under-19 and women's semifinals to set up her summit clash, the only player to do so in this edition of the contest. The unseeded Yoshna will take on the Amira Singh in the under-19 while in the women's section she faces Tanvi Khanna for the titles.
Incidentally both here opponents are second-ranked players in this championship. Yoshna, undid the third-ranked Amita Gondi of Telangana in the five-game thriller in the girls under-19. Telangana's Amita did scare Yoshna as she bounced after being 0-2 down. but Yoshna who preserved her best for the end game took the game 11-6 and a place in the final.
Yoshna won 11-7, 11-6, 9-11, 6-11, 11-6.Getting back on to the court later in the day, Yoshna got the better of Akanksha Rao 11-3, 11-1, 11-6 in the women's final.
Yash Fadte of Goa managed to edge past Prithivi Singh with ease, to set up the summit clash with unseeded Neel Joshi who upset second seed Rahul Baitha 9-11, 11-9, 11-8, 11-7. In the men’s open, second seed Abhishek Pradhan was stretched to his limits before he pulling off a 9-11, 11-9, 11-4, 4-11, 11-5 final verdict against Abhay Singh and lines up with top seed Mahesh Mangaonkar, a 13-11, 11-6, 11-3 winner against Abhishek Agarwal.
Results (SFs): Girls U-19: Yoshna Singh bt Amita Gondi [3/4] 11-7 11-6 9-11 6-11 11-6; Amira Singh [2] bt Anannya Morey 11-4 11-2 11-7 Boy’s U-19: Yash Fadte [1] bt Prithvi Singh [5/8] 11-3 11-7 11-8; Neel Joshi bt Rahul Baitha [2] 9-11 11-9 11-8 11-7
Women: Yoshna Singh [5/8] bt Aakanksha Rao [5/8] 11-3 11-1 11-6; Tanvi Khanna [2] bt Sachika Balvani [3/4] 11-2 11-2 11-3 Men: Mahesh Mangaonkar [1] bt Abhishek Agarwal [3/4] 13-11 11-6 11-3; Abhishek Pradhan [2] bt Abhay Singh [3/4] 9-11 11-9 11-4 4-11 11-5.
- FPJ Sports Desk
