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CCI Challenger 2013
06-11 May, Mumbai, India, $15k |
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11-May, Final:
Hesham takes the title in all-Egyptian final
Mahesh Mangaonkar reports
It was an astonishing
performance by the young egyptian squash star Mazen Hesham
What lovely nicks, lobs, deception. This guy is just unbelievable.
All we mumbaikars wish Mazen all the very best for his coming
tournaments.10-May,
Semis:
Hesham and Reda set up
all-Egyptian final in Mumbai
The winner of the inaugural
CCI Challenger in Mumbai will be and Egyptian, after Mazen Hesham
and Ali Anwar Reda won through to the final.
Hesham, the fourth seed, beat Scottish top seed Alan Clyne in just
under an hour, while Reda, the second seed, took 95 minutes to
subdue third-seeded compatriot Omar Abdel Meguid.
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  CCI
Challenger 2013
06-11 May, Mumbai, India, $15k |
Round One
08 May |
Quarters
09 May |
Semis
10 May |
Final
11 May |
[1] Alan Clyne (Sco)
9-11, 11-9, 11-6, 12-10
Ammar Altamimi (Kuw) |
[1] Alan Clyne
15-13, 11-5, 11-6 45m
Greg Lobban |
[1] Alan Clyne
11-9, 3-11, 11-4, 11-3 (55m)
[4] Mazen Hesham |
[4] Mazen Hesham
11-6, 11-9,
11-9
[2] Ali Anwar Reda |
Greg Lobban (Sco)
11-3, 11-3, 11-6
[Q] Abhimanu Shah (Ind) |
Elvinn Keo (Mas)
11-5,11-13, 11-2, 8-11, 11-7
Ravi Dixit (Ind) |
Elvinn Keo
11-5, 11-6, 12-10 30m
[4] Mazen Hesham |
[4] Mazen Hesham (Egy)
11-4, 11-4, 13-11
[Q] Gaurav Nandrajog (Ind) |
Harinder Pal Sandhu (Ind)
3-11, 11-2, 11-9, 12-10
[3] Omar Abdel Meguid (Egy) |
[3] Omar Abdel Meguid
13-11 ,8-11, 11-8, 14-12 60m
Ivan Yuen |
[3] Omar Abdel Meguid
8-11, 11-8, 11-9, 2-11, 11-6 (95m)
[2] Ali Anwar Reda |
Ivan Yuen (Mas)
11-5, 11-4, 11-9
[Q] Adam Murrills (Eng) |
Ahmad Al-Saraj (Jor)
11-3, 11-6, 11-4
Mahesh Mangaonkar (Ind) |
Mahesh Mangaonkar
14-16, 6-11, 16-14, 12-10, 11-8 115m
[2] Ali Anwar Reda |
[Q] Ahmed Atef (Egy)
11-3, 13-11, 11-4
[2] Ali Anwar Reda (Egy) |
07-May, Qualifying Finals:
Gaurav Nandrajog (Ind) bt Philip Bull (Eng)
11-9, 11-5, 13-11
Abhimanu Shah (Ind) bt Jonathon Maloney (Eng)
5-11,11-3,8-11,15-13,12-10 (75m)
Ahmed Atef (Egy) bt Abhishek Pradhan (Ind)
11-9, 1-11, 11-8, 5-11, 11-7 (60m)
Adam Murrills (Eng) bt
Kush Kumar (Ind)
3/2
06-May, Qualifying Round One:
Abhimanu Shah (Ind) bt Arjun Agnihotra (Ind) 11-5, 11-8,
13-11 (30m)
Gaurav Nandrajog (Ind) bt Abhinav Sinha (Ind) 11-6, 11-8,
11-7 (35m)
Abhishek Pradhan (Ind) bt Rishad Pandole (Ind) 11-6, 11-9,
11-5 (30m)
Kush Kumar (Ind) bt Madhav Dhingra (Ind) 11-6, 12-14, 11-4,
11-9 (45m)
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08-May, Round One:
Mahesh makes last eight in Mumbai
It was a busy day for Rolling Nicks Squash Academy at the CCI PSA
Squash Challenger 15 as the mumbaikars witnessed some outstanding
squash by these top professionals in the first round.
First on court Alan Clyne beat Ammar al Tamimi in a 70-minute
intense battle, setting up an all-Scottish quarter-final with Greg
Lobban.
Then the only Indian to progress on the day, Mahesh Mangaonkar
beat Ahmed al Saraj 3-0. He plays second seed Ali Anwar Reda
in the quarter-finals
Mahesh: "Happy to win 3-0. I was very focused today and
played with the right game plan. Big for me tomorrow as I will play
my first top 30 player. I'm very excited to play him in front of my
home crowd. Hopefully I will play well and win."
The biggest man on the psa circuit, Omar Abdel Meguid, went
on next and unlike some of the Egyptian's encounters it was not an
ugly match. Good court coverage by Harinder Pal Sandhu as he had to
go round and across the big Meguid. Overall it was a good show by
both players. Unlucky for harry though :(
Omar: "It was a good first match me, Harry played really well
in the first game and the crowd were cheering him off so that got me
pumped and started playing well in the next games hopefully I'll be
playing better tomorrow [against Ivan Yuen]."
Then it was Malaysia's Elvin Keo who won a tough battle
against the wild card Ravi Dixit. Ravi showed a superb performance,
but he could have done better as he was leading 4-1 in the 5th.
Unfortunately, Ravi made many unforced errors which gave elvin a 8-7
lead and from there on Elvin managed to close it 11-8 to set up a
match with another Egyptian, Mazen Hesham.
Elvin: "Well I can say it is a close match as Ravi played
really well today.. He really did stretch me to my max. I'm hoping
to give a good game to Mazen tomorrow. The Tournament is good and
well organized."
07-May, Qualifying Finals:
Qualifying complete in Mumbai
Mahesh Mangaonkar reports
Day Two of the CCI PSA Squash Challenger 15 - qualifying finals -
started off with a brutal five-setter where Ahmed Atef beat
indian world juniors 2012 team member Abishek Pradhan 11-9,
1-11, 11-8, 5-11, 11-7 in 60mins.
First game very close 11-9 to the tricky egyptian. But the fast &
furious abhishek made it look very easy as he won 1-11 in the 2nd.
Unfortunately, the fast &furious indian made many unforced errors in
the 3rd which gave the tricky egyptian a 2-1 lead in games.
Then from nowhere abhishek came up with some explicit shot making
and took a good 6-3 lead and kept his shot making ability up to the
mark and won the 4th game 5-11.
Games are tied 2-2 and its been almost an hour. Both players get on
court with the dripping sweaty t-shirts to fight and win the match
in 5. Abhishek started off well but again some more errors and
abhishek lost his concentration and well created lead 5-2. Some
great rallies and tough pick ups from both players but in the end
the more experienced Egyptian player won 11-7 in the 5th.
Abhishek: 'it was a very close match and I didn't play
that well. Should have won 3-0 as the court conditions were favoring
me. Just made a lot of errors today which gave him an advantage to
win the match. It was a good experience though.
Its been 3 years since india has had a psa event and I'm glad to
play a psa tournament in front of my home crowd. I tried and made
the most of it. Now its time for me to watch some good match in the
main draw from tomorrow.
Ahmed Atef: I am very lucky that I won against
abhishek. He is such a talented player. I played him for the first
time today and lucky to win my match. Now I need to regroup and
focus for tomorrow's match where I will compete in the main draw. So
far it has been a good experience for me in mumbai. The venue is
amazing and everyone here are very kind and helpful. Its very hot
though. I'm still trying to acclimatize to the weather.
Another brutal qualifying final followed where the 17 year old
indian junior Abhimanu Shah beat much older and stronger englishman
Jonathon Maloney 5-11, 11-3, 8-11, 15-13, 12-10 in 75 minutes)
Young and upper coming squash star training under the indian legend
Ritwik Bhattacharya (former world #38) at bombay gymkhana showed
everyone and himself what he's made off. Initially before the start
of the tournament abhimanu wasn't even in the draw until the last
minute withdrawl by deepak mishra(another indian junior team
member). It was a good decision taken by the tournament directors
mahesh mangaonkar,abhinav sinha and kunwarpal singh(rolling nicks
squash academy) to give abhimanu shah a chance to compete in a PSA
challenger 15 event. Supposely the toughest event of the challenger
series.
abhimanu: I knew he was struggling with the conditions
and the only thing I could do is to take full advantage of the home
crowd and play my best squash. The ball wasn't dying in the front or
at the back as the conditions were very hot in spite of the
air-condition being there. I tried to move him around as much as
possible by being aggressive and holding my 't' position and
volleyed everything. I knew he was feeling the heat so that gave me
huge confidence and from then on I did not slow down the pace.
It was fun playing a psa tournament and making it to the main draw
for the first time ever. This win has made very confident for the
selection trials in chennai for world juniors in poland as my
performance hasn't been that good for the past few months. Very
happy to win my match today. I'd like to thank my coach ritwik
bhattacharya and mentor raj arora and of course my parents for being
there with me when I'm feeling low after a bad loss.
I'm hungry for more and looking forward to play in the main draw
tomorrow.
Rolling Nicks squash academy: we were always sure that
abhimanu is a great player whose got very good technique and strikes
the ball very well for a 17 year old. We need more players like
abhimanu who are hard working, dedicated and are hungry to learn and
achieve more in. He has got a very bright future and we wish him
good luck for the selection trials of the world juniors which is
going to take place in poland in july.
Easy pizzy lemon squeezey for gaurav nandrajog.
Gaurav nandrajog, the oldest member of the qualifying finals today
beat england's phillip bull in a easy 3-0 (11-9, 11-5, 13-11).
Gaurav nandrajog: happy to win 3-0 today. Haven't
played a psa event for many years now and this felt like a fresh new
start for me. I've been busy with coaching and promoting squash in
northern india and its great to see squash explore in the western
side of india.
The conditions are on my side as its home advantage and its always
fun to play in front of your home crowd. I will play the 4th seeded
mazen hisham tomorrow and I'm very much looking forward to it.
Its gonna be super fast with the quick egyptian who has won 3 psa
titles,I will give my best and try to win. |
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