Edinburgh (Scotland), Dec 30 (IANS) Indian juniors continued their domination of the 62nd Scottish Junior Open squash championships in Edinburgh, as they reached finals of six of the events Saturday. India are now likely to improve upon their last year’s haul of two titles.
It’s not been a good tournament for the seeds, with just three top seeds making it through to their respective finals at Heriot Watt. Around 200 top juniors from 25 countries are playing in various categories at Edinburgh.
India’s unseeded Karan Malik rallied from a match-ball when he was just one point away from defeat to beat third seeded Robert Downer from England in the quarter-finals. Karan’s effort was especially remarkable as he was two games down but rallied back strongly to win the next three to move up. Karan won in five thrilling games 9-10, 6-9, 10-8, 9-5, 9-5 in 62 minutes.
Then in his semi final, Karan needed another five games to defeat Arjun Gupta from Canada. This was another hour long match with both players keeping the ball in play and waiting for their openings.
Arjun came back from 1-2 down, but in the decider, Karan just did not allow Arjun to get into the game and won 9-6, 1-9, 9-7, 5-9, 9-2 to enter his first International final.
In the other sections, Karan was joined in the final by his ICL Squash Academy team mates Aparajitha Balamurukan (Girls Under-15), Anwesha Reddy (Girls Under-17) and Harinderpal Singh (Boys Under-19). Mahesh Mangaonkar from Mumbai and Dubai-based Indian Sandeep Ramachandran (Under-11) also made the finals.
Aparajitha toppled the top seed Emily Heyes from England 9-2, 9-5, 10-9. In the final, Aparajitha will meet Tamika Saxby from Australia who has a 1-0 record against her.
Anwesha dominated her match from the start and never let her opponent Samantha Cornett from Canada take an advantage. Anwesha defeated Samantha 9-3, 9-5, 9-5.
Last year Ravi Dixit (Boys u15) and Mahesh Mangaonkar (Boys u13) were the two winners from India.
Results: Boys U19 Semis: Kelly Shannon (Can) bt [9/16] Todd Harrity (Usa) 9/6, 3/9, 4/9, 9/7, 10/8′ Harinderpal Singh (Ind) Andrew Martin (Rsa) 9/5, 9/3, 9/4
Boys U17 Semis: Andrew Schnell (Can) bt Paul Rodrigues (Rsa) 9/5, 9/2, 8/9, 3/9, 9/7; Karan Malik (Ind) bt Arjun Gupta (Can) 9/6, 1/9, 9/7, 5/9, 9/2.
Girls U17 Semis: Kimberley Hay (Eng) bt Mhairi Charlton (Sco) 9/0, 9/3, 9/0; Anwesha Reddy (Ind) bt Samantha Cornett (Can) 9/3, 9/5, 9/3
Boys U15 Semis: Dylan Murray (Usa) bt David Jones (Sco) 6/9, 9/2, 9/5, 9/4; Mahesh Mangonjkar (Ind) bt Douglas Kempsell (Sco) 9/3, 9/4, 9/5
Girls U15 Semis: Arpajitha Balamurukan (Ind) bt Emily Heyes (Eng) 9/2, 9/5, 10/9; Tamika Saxby (Aus) bt Sachika Balvani (Ind) 9/5, 9/2, 9/0
Boys U11 – round robin: 1st Sandeep Ramachandran (Ind), 2nd Ryan Murray (Usa), 3rd Jack Hogg (Sco). Top two meet in the final.