Vaidehi downs Tan Pei Qi

By S.R. Suryanarayan

CHENNAI, FEB 18. Vaidehi Reddy kept the Indians happy and later Joshna Chinappa, who made her first appearance, too as the two moved into the quarterfinal with little fuss but high hopes in the Asian junior squash championship at the ICL Academy courts on Sunday.

Rachita Vora too joined them, to raise visions of another fine outing for the girls but Rhea Bhandare and Divya Rajan crashed, proving no match to the Malaysians, who were in a different league as compared to the Singaporeans, whom the other three Indians met. Divya's downfall was understandable considering she faced the second seed Tricia Chuah but Rhea could certainly have shown some more fight rather than allowing herself to be overwhelmed by Malaysian number three Teng Ooiean. What happened to all that hard grind in the camp, one wondered.

But Vaidehi and Joshna inspired. Ever a serious competitor, Vaidehi never allowed herself to go astray nor give Tan Pei Qi freedom to organise herself. Swift finish was her goal just the way top seeded and title favourite, Nicol David (Mal) disposed of her Hong Kong opponent without as much as working up a sweat. Joshna in the 3-4 seed bracket, on the other hand showed a touch of casualness briefly. But the Chennai girl was never in danger against Gwong Hui Xian, who incidentally is an under-17 champion back home. In fact the way Joshna blanked her opponent in the third game there was that pleasing flourish all over.

Even as the girls showed resilience, the boys buckled after having fought their way into the prequarters in the morning. Sahil Vora once again shone but in the evening session, there was no trace of him against seeded Pakistani Farrukh Zaman. Varun Katurka fought well but failed for that little extra to grab at least two games, leading 8-5 in one and 8-7 next. The Malaysian number two, Kelvin was too wily to let that escapes go unrewarded. However Abhimanyu Jain looked at sea against his smaller-built Malaysian opponent, Marcus.

The results: Boys: Pre- quarter-final: Mohd Azlan Iskandar (Mal) bt Zeyad Tarq Al- Owayesh (Kuw) 9-1, 9-5, 9-3; Imran Mohib (Pak) bt Wong Km Lee (Mal) 9-6, 9-6, 9-0; Kelvin Ho MunKit (Mal) bt Varun Kataruka (Ind) 9-6, 10-9, 10-9; Arshad Iqbal Burki (Pak) bt Dick Lau Siu Wai (HK) 9-1, 9-7, 9-0; Marcus Yeap Y-Choong (Mal) bt Abhimanyu Jain (Ind) 9-2, 9-4, 9-4; Farrukh Zaman (Pak) bt Sahil Vora (Ind) 9-0, 9-0, 9-3; Shahid Zaman (Pak) bt Neerav Tomar (Ind) 9-2, 9-5, 9-3; Mohd. Yaqoub Ghuloom Hajiyah (Kuw) bt Gaurav Nandrajog (Ind) 7-9,9-5,9-6,9-6. (II round): Mohd Azlan Iskandar (Mal) bt Anson Kwong Yu Shun (HK) 9-4, 9-2, 9-5; Zeyad Tarwq Al-Owayesh bt Saurav Ghosal 9-3, 9-2, 9-3; Wong Kim Lee (Mal) bt Masud Rana (Ban) 9-0, 9-3, 9-2; Imran Mohib (Pak) bt Ahmed Fayez Marzouk (Kuw) 9-2, 9-7, 9-6; Kelvin Ho Mun Kit (Mal) bt Kavin Jayawardena (SL) 9-0, 9-0, 9-2; Varun Kataruka (Ind) bt Ali Reza Sanaei (Irn) 9-2, 9-2 9-5; Dick Lau Siu Wai (HK) bt G. Benson Seow Teng (Sng) 9-0, 9-3, 9-0; Arshad Iqbal Burki (Pak) bt Seung Jn Lee (Kor) 9- 0, 9-0, 9-1; Marcus Yeap Y-Choong (Mal) bt Md. Delwar Hossain (Ban) 9-1, 9-0, 9-2; Abhimanyu Jain (Ind) bt G Ong Yu Zhi (Sng) 9-6 9-4, 9-5; Sahil Vora (Ind) bt Jeung Gyu Park (Kor) 9-4, 6-9, 9-6, 9-2; Farrukh Zaman (Pak) bt Ali Tabballat (Jor) 9-1, 9-2, 9- 2; Mohd. Yaqoub Ghuloom Hajiyah (Kuw) bt Navin Samarsinghe (SL)10-8, 9-7, 5-9, 9-3; Gaurav Nandrajog (Ind) bt Kwa Darius (Sng) 9-4, 9-3, 9-1; Neerav Tomar (Ind) bt Michael Chiu Ho Ming (Hk) 2-9, 9-1, 10-8, 9-0; Shahid Zaman (Pak) bt Dong Woo Kim (Kor) 9-1 9-3, 9-3.

Girls: Pre-quarter-final: Nicol David (Mal) bt Connie Choi Man Shan (Hk) 9-1, 9-3, 9-0; Sally Looi (Mal) bt Frances Ho Mayee (Hk) 3-9, 1-9, 9-4, 10-8, 9-4; Vaidehi Reddy (Ind) bt Tan Pei Qi (Sng) 9-2, 9-1, 9-0; Karen Lau Siu Ying (Hk) bt Ayako Ozaki (Jap) 9-3, 9-0, 9-1; Joshna Chinappa (Ind) bt G. Wong Hui Xian (Sng) 9- 2, 9-5, 9-0; Teng Ooiean (Mal) bt Rhea Bhandare (Ind) 9-5, 9-0, 9-4; Rachita Vora (Ind) bt J. Goh Mui Yen (Sng) 9-0, 9-6, 9-1; Tricia Chuah (Mal) bt Divya Rajan (Ind) 9-0, 9-2, 9-0.

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