05-Oct, Finals:
Sandhu and Torky take the titles

03-Oct, Quarter-Finals:
Indian hopes still alive in Jaipur

Hopes of a home winner remain on course as Mahesh Mangaonkar and Harinderpal Sandhu won through to the semi-finals, where both face English opposition in the forms of Angus Gillams and Adam Murrills, who upsed second seed Kristian Frost. No upsets in the women's matches as the top four seeds all won in straight games.

02-Oct, Round ONE:
Contrasting wins for top seeds in Jaipur

The first round of the PSA $10k event saw top seeds Mahesh Mangaonkar and Kristian Frost progress in contrasting styles - Mahesh, one of three Indians to reach the quarters, eased past wildcard Vijay Meena in straight games while Frost took almost two hours to see off the challenge of Kush Kumarin four games. There was one significant upset as qualifier Velavan Senthilkumar beat eights seed Arthur Moineau.

01-Oct, Qualifying Finals:
Qualifying complete in Jaipur

The first JSW Indian Circuit event kicked off in Jaipur with three Indians winning their qualifying finals to progress to the main draw of the PSA $10k event, plus a 'lucky loser'. 

Indian Challenger Circuit Launch

12/10, 11/3, 11/2 (45m)

Angus Gillams

11/5, 11/5, 11/6 (65m)

11/5, 9/11, 11/6, 11/2 (55m)

[7] Adam Murrills

01-Oct, Qualifying Finals:

Muhammed Asif Khan (Pak)  3-0 Ashish Keskar (Ind)             11-8, 11-1, 11-2 (21m)
Velavan Senthilkumar (Ind) 301 Ranvijay Singh (Ind)  11-2, 11-6, 4-11, 14-12 (48m)
Gaurav Nandrajog (Ind) 3-0 Abhinav Sinha (Ind)                   11-4, 11-7, 11-8 (33m)
Deepak Mishra (Ind) 3-1 Sandeep Jangra (Ind)             11-6, 11-6, 9-11, 11-7 (50m)

30 Sep, Qualifying Round One :

Ranvijay Singh 3-0 Utkarsh Baheti                    11-6, 11-5, 11-4 (21m)
Gaurav Nandrajog 3-0  Ranjit Singh                 11-9, 11-5, 11-9 (32m)

11/5, 11/7, 12/10 (37m)

[4] Nouran El Torky

[4] Nouran El Torky

 11/3, 11/8, 11/4 (43m)

[2] Cheyna Tucker

11/4, 6/11, 8/11, 11/3, 11/6 (50m)

[2] Cheyna Tucker

#1 Jaipur | #2 Mumbai | #3 Mumbai | #4 Chennai

FINALS
Reports by Liesl Goecker, Circuit Director

The men’s and women’s Jaipur final of the first tournament in the JSW Indian Squash Challenger Circuit, speed and strategy won out over length. Champions Nouran El Torky of Egypt and Harinder Pal Sandhu of India dominated their games from the start, both winning in three straight games.



In the women’s final, El Torky came out strong, while it took her opponent Cheyna Tucker a bit of time to find her legs. El Torky took the first point, and a bit later, hit a sweet boast that had Tucker scrambling. But a long rally ending in a stroke to Tucker brought it close, taking it to 3-2, El Torky in the lead. El Torky broke away, leading 6-2. Again and again, El Torky skillfully put the ball just out of reach for Tucker, who is usually very good on the stretch.

Down, Tucker was getting rattled, and she continued to play a bit off. A couple of careless shots increased El Torky’s lead to 8-3, and she took the first game 11-3. Tucker came back with greater control for the second game and had El Torky running around a bit on some long rallies. But a nice drop from El Torky leveled it at 2-2. Tucker edged up with a 6-2 lead and lengthened the game. But she couldn’ hold the lead. A string of unforced errors by Tucker let El Torky close the gap.

The referees call a down shot on El Torky on a leveling point, but Tucker said the shot was in and conceded the point, tying it up at 7-7. Tucker continued to widen the game, but El Torky took it again, 11-8. The third game saw El Torky looking to make it a quick match, and she shot into the lead 5-1. Tucker managed to claw back a few points but her game lost focus as the pressure built. El Torky took the third game 11-4, and with a joyful scream, became the champion of the first JSW Challenger tournament in Jaipur.

Nouran El Torky: "I saw the trophy three days ago. I told one of my friends: 'I need this one.' I was very worried at the beginning, telling myself just focus, don't rush for front shots, just place basci first to get my game. I'd like to thank my mother and father and sisters, Heba and Raneem. And thanks to the tournament organizers and sponsors."


In the men’s final, Asian Games gold medalists Harinder Pal Sandhu and Mahesh Mangaonkar faced off in front of a packed house. While Mangaonkar had the length, Sandhu returned brilliant shot after brilliant shot, stumping Mangaonkar in a quick three-game match, 11-5, 11-5, 11-6. The first game opened slowly, with both players sticking to basics as they felt each other out. Two long rallies went to Sandhu, before Mangaonkar took his first point on a stroke. S

andhu, playing strongly from the T, built a lead of 5-1 before the game suddenly sped up with a lightning reaction shot from Mangaonkar. Mangaonkar used his length to drive his opponent all over the court, but Sandhu returned every ball Mangaonkar sent at him. Another long, fast rally with some beautiful boasts by both players ended with Sandhu diving the wrong way, giving Mangaonkar the point. But Sandhu’s lead was still solid at 7-3. Another split-second reaction shot, this time by Sandhu, kicked the game up yet another notch, and Mangaonkar managed to take a point off Sandhu after a long and interesting rally.

Two strokes in a row to Sandhu brought the first game to game point, and a shot off the tin by Mangaonkar gave away the first game, Sandhu winning 11-5. In the second game, Mangaonkar got in some lovely, top-flight shots, but there was no stopping Sandhu. On fire, Sandhu took a quick lead of 4-0. But Mangaonkar patiently clawed his way back to level it at 4-4. A lovely boast by Mangaonkar gave him his first lead of the match. But he couldn’t hold it. Sandhu took the second game again 11-5.

An out ball by Mangaonkar gave the first point of the third game to Sandhu and had Mangaonkar throwing his racket and receiving a conduct warning.

A beautiful jump shot by Mangaonkar tied leveled it at 2-2, and he suddenly turned steely, more in control. A Mangaonkar shot puts Sandhu in splits, just missing the ball. It brought Mangaonkar ahead, 6-5. But Sandhu knew the title was his.

After some superb squash and lightning retrievals, a hard boast from Sandhu brought the game to 8-2, his lead. At 10-6, Sandhu served for the match and became the champion of the first JSW Challenger tournament in Jaipur!

Harinder Pal Sandhu: "It feels great. It's exactly one year since I lost to Mahesh on this same court at senior nationls.

"This court is a very hot spot. I knew I would need to keep my basic game tight, don't be headstrong, just hang in there and give it all up."

Semi-Finals
Reports by Liesl Goecker, Circuit Director

Mahesh Mangaonkar (IND) 3-0 Angus Gillams (ENG) 12-10, 11-3, 11-2 45m

It was a tough crowd for Angus Gillams  during his quarterfinal today, as the court was packed to cheer on home favorite Mahesh Mangaonkar, just returned from the Asian Games with a gold for India. But the scrappy Gillams fought hard, fulfilling expectations of a cracker of a match with his contrasting style.

Gillams started very well, keeping Mangaonkar off the middle and moving him to all corners of the court. He nosed ahead in the first game, 5-1, 6-2, but Mahesh found settled and fought back for the T. He pulled to level with Gillams, who then kicked up gears to reach game point at 10-7. Mangaonkar, determined not to lose the first game, very patiently cut out his unforced errors and improved his length to take the game into a tie break. He forced two errors from Gillams to win a nail-biting first game 12-10.

But Gillams lost steam in the second game, making careless mistakes that gave Mangaonkar, who kept up the pressure, a 5-1 lead. Gillams changed tactics and further increased the pace. Both players were now playing their top game and the crowd was loving it.

Long rallies ended in Mangaonkar winning most points and forcing many errors from Gillams, and the second game closed out 11-3 to go up two games to nil. The third game saw an even more intense Mangaonkar, who dominated the middle, leaving Gillams to jump at reaction shots all over the court. At 10-1, Gillams managed to steal a match point from Mangaonkar with a lovely boast, but Mangaonkar closed it out on the next rally, winning 11-2.

Mangaonkar will face Harinder Pal Singh (IND) in tomorrow’s all-Indian men’s final for maximum world ranking points and the first-ever JSW Indian Squash Challenger Circuit title at the Jaipur Club.

Mahesh Mangaonkar: “The first game was very important for me. I was down from the beginning, but I absorbed the pressure really well and waited for the right opportunity to get in short. I just had to be patient in the second game and keep the ball straight, straight, straight. I think I got him at the beginning of the first game and that’s what won me the match.”

Angus Gillams: “In the first game I tried to slow it down and it worked well. I thought I’d be lucky enough to win it. But it’s quite physically hard on these courts in this heat. He was able to keep it where I wasn’t able to keep up physically.”


Harinder Singh (IND) 3-1 Adam Murrills (ENG)  11-5, 9-11, 11-6, 11-2 55m
**Report by Utkarsh Baheti, a 13-year-old qualifier in the Jaipur tournament of the JSW Indian Squash Challenger Circuit

In the second semifinal between Harinder Pal Sandhu (Ind) and Adam Murrills of England, Sandhu picked up where he left off, keeping all the intensity of his game yesterday, and started with an early lead. Sandhu kept Murrills pinned to the back corners with some amazing length and width to win the first game comfortably 11-5 in just 10 minutes. Sandhu continued in the same spirit, and the second game seemed to repeat the first, before Murrills bounced back from 3-8 down to level terms at 9-9 and won five points in a row to take the game.

The third game saw Murrills build pressure and pull out a slender lead of 4-1. But Sandhu came back and leveled the match at 7-6. At that point, the fight went out of Murrills, and Sandhu topped out at 11-6 to take a two games to one advantage. Game four was Sandhu all the way till he reached 9-2. It looked like he would finish things off comfortably, but Murrills found his fight again and moved the ball around the court in some very quick rallies to all corners.

At 9-6 Sandhu got an unforced error from Murrills to get his first match ball. Murrills dug deep again and, after some amazing rallyies and unbelievable retrieving, fought back to within a point at 10-9. Sandhu played some awesome squash across two more long rallies and a few lengths, keeping the ball deep and tight as he desperately tried to close out the game. Finally, Murrills was the one to hit the ball out by inches, giving the match to Sandhu.

Sandhu will face Mahesh Mangaonkar (IND) in tomorrow’s all-Indian men’s final for maximum world ranking points and the first-ever JSW Indian Squash Challenger Circuit title at the Jaipur Club.

Adam Murrills: “It took me a game to get going. I got a bit more control after the first. I thought he played pretty well and just controlled the T a bit more than I did, which led to me doing a bit more work than him consistently.”

Nouran El Torky (EGY) 3-0 Birgit Coufal (AUT) 11-5, 11-7, 12-10 37m

Watching the talent of India’s junior women playing over the past two days is its own excitement, but today, the level of play kicked up a notch as the more experienced Nouran El Torky (EGY) and Birigt Coufal (AUT) went head-to-head in the semifinals.

Coufal, a great ambassador for the sport and amazing role model for the local youngsters and Indian juniors, exchanged faster volleys and fewer lets with El Torky, a young and extremely exciting talent returning to squash after a break of two years, to pick up the pace of the women’s game here in Jaipur. But the first match saw Coufalt struggling to find her game, and El Torky was quick to take advantage, nabbing a quick lead of 3-1, 6-2. Several powerful shots from El Torky had the top seed scrambling to return.

The second game was closer, but Coufal still appeared off and El Torky maintained a rigid control from the middle. There wasn’t much between both players till 7-7 when El Torky played three beautiful shots to win 11-7. In the third game, Coufal hit her stride.

While El Torky still had her moving all over the court, Coufal dug deep and hit some delicate boasts to pull out a small lead, 6-4, 7-5, before El Torky’s unique, powerful style brought the game to level at 8-8, 9-9. Coufal fought to the end, but on her second attempt at a match point, El Torky took the game 12-10.

El Torky will face Cheyna Tucker (RSA) in tomorrow’s final for maximum world ranking points and the first-ever JSW Indian Squash Challenger Circuit title at the Jaipur Club.

Nouran El Torky: “The first game, she didn’t start well. She’s improved a lot since the last time I played with her a long time ago. I’m looking forward for tomorrow to be my second title. Also, I’ve played neither Chloe nor Cheyna, so that will be interesting.”

Birgit Coufal: “I didn’t feel too comfortable, couldn’t find my rhythm. I tried to play it safe, but I was getting a little too impatient, going for silly shots.”

Cheyna Tucker (RSA) 3-2 Chloe Mesic (FRA) 11-4, 6-11, 8-11 11-3 11-6 50m

The last semifinal of the day saw two powerhouses with similar styles go point-for-point for the second spot in tomorrow’s women’s final in Jaipur. In the longest women’s match in the tournament, Cheyna Tucker (RSA) eventually topped Chloe Mesic (FRA), but it wasn’t easy.

The women were evenly matched from the start – fast-paced and at home on the stretches – but Tucker took the first game 11-4.

The second game saw Mesic determined to catch up, but neither she nor Tucker could control the T and the ball was wild. Tucker had some just-short-of-beautiful shots that put Mesic in the lead, and a stroke to Mesic put her up 8-5. An out shot by Mesic gave Tucker one more point before Mesic closed the game 11-6. Mesic again came out strong, taking greater control in the third game.

Tucker appeared tired, flubbing shot after shot as Mesic ran her around the court. At 10-5, Tucker stole a game point with a nice drop just above the tin, and two out shots in a row by Mesic gave her hope. But Mesic closed the third game 11-8.

Tucker regrouped for the fourth game, however, and came out with a new strategy that got her a 10-1 lead, and let her take the game 11-3, sending the match into a fifth decider.

Tucker kept mixing it up in the fifth game, while Mesic relied on power shots off the front. Mesic was tiring, but kept up the intensity and this game saw some long and exciting rallies, though Tucker always had the lead. Mesic came back from 6-1 to 10-6, but Tucker finally took the match at 11-6.

Tucker will play Nouran El Torky (EGY) in tomorrow’s final for maximum world ranking points and the first-ever JSW Indian Squash Challenger Circuit title at the Jaipur Club.

Cheyna Tucker: “The first game went well, though I was feeling a bit heavy in the legs. I felt like the tables turned a bit in the second and put me under a bit more pressure. She made less errors and was retrieving really well. I decided to slow the ball down and get a length, get my basics right, and then really felt like I was in control until the end of the game.”

Quarter-Finals:
Reports by Liesl Goecker, Circuit Director

Angus Gillams (ENG) v Velavan Senthilkumar (IND)

A match up of two left-handers is always unusual yet enjoyable to watch. And when one of them is a 16-year-old Indian junior playing in his first PSA quarterfinal, the crowd turns giddy. Velavan Senthilkumar (IND), one of the most exciting products of the Indian Squash Academy in Chennai, played Angus Gillams (ENG) Friday.

Both men have a lovely, clean style that saw them both start well. Gillams took a small lead at 4-1 before Senthilkumar, who is trained by Maj Maniam and Cyrus Poncha and has seen some success on the National level, pulled back a few points. But Senthilkumar trailed throughout the game and lost the first 11-5. The second game saw Senthilkumar off to a better start, but Gillams kept up the pressure and there were some great rallies and lots of reflex shots. Senthilkumar was up 7-5 before Gillams increased the pace, went further up on the T to get some unforced errors and win the second game as well, 11-8.

The third game gave a glimpse of Senthilkumar’s true potential, when he finally managed to get Gillams off the middle and took the game to him. He owned the game start to finish, closing it out 11-5 to take the match to a fourth game and possibly push into a decider. Gillams had other plans, though, and pulled out a 6-0 and 9-1 lead before Senthilkumar got his range back. But by then it was too late and Gillams booked a place in the semis with 11-3.

Mahesh Mangaonkar (IND) vs Matias Tuomi (FIN)

Top seed Mahesh Mangaonkar (IND) started off perfectly against Matias Tuomi (FIN) taking a 6-0 lead and almost playing a perfect game to win the first game of the match. Tuomi, who has an interesting style, played very well in the second game, trading points with Mangaonkar in some delightful rallies that had the crowds stuck to their seats. Mangaonkar, though, definitely worked

by Tuomi, never gave an inch, and always kept his nose ahead to win the second 11-7 with some great volleys from the middle. The third game again had Mangaonkar in complete control as he closed it out 11-2. The scores didn’t do justice to the battle, though, and everyone at the Jaipur
Club is looking forward to an exciting Semi Finals tomorrow.

Harinder Pal Sandhu (IND) vs Carlos Cornes (ESP)

Coming straight from Incheon, South Korea, Asian Games gold medalist Harinder Pal Sandhu (IND) played a thrilling match against Carlos Cornes (ESP), on his first trip to India. Expected to be an extremely tough match for either side, both players got off to a strong start before Sandhu pulled ahead with some amazing squash.

In his best performance in the tournament so far, Sandhu kept everyone on the edge of their seats. Cornes, who has the height advantage as well as some very deft stroke play, moved Sandhu about and gave it his best in the third game. He came out firing with all guns and briefly held the lead at 7-5. But Sandhu had an answer for every ball thrown to him today, and took back control to close out the match 11-5, 11-5, 11-8.

Adam Murrills (ENG) v Kristian Frost Olesen

A big upset in the last men's match of the day, Murrills will play Harinder Pal Sandhu (IND) in tomorrow’s semifinals.

Chloe Mesic (FRA) v Sadia Gul (PAK)

In the first women’s quarterfinal match, both Chloe Mesic (FRA) and Sadia Gul (PAK) started strong, trading points up to 5-5, when Mesic pulled away. Mesic took the first game 11-7.

Determined to catch up, Gul took a quick lead in the second game, starting out 4-1 and getting some nice shots off the back wall during the rallies. While playing with passion, Gul, just one month out of knee surgery, wasn’t stretching for the hard shots. Mesic, precise and focused, was never far behind, and at 7-7 broke away to take the game with four consecutive points, 11-7.

The third game, it was Mesic’s turn to dominate the start and she quickly took a 4-1 lead. From there, it was all Gul could do to keep up, and at 7-10, Mesic won on a desperate out serve by Gul, taking the game again at 11-7.

Sadia Gul: “After a long time, I played well. I’m satisfied my performance was good. Next tournament, I’ll try my best for the final.”

Birgit Coufal (AUT) v Sachika Ingale (IND)

In a quick 20 minutes, tour veteran Birgit Coufal (AUT) took the match against Sachika Ingale (IND). Despite a powerful backhand and lots of hustle, Ingale was no match for Coufal, who easily broke away after the second point in the first game to score nine points in a row. Ingale spiced it up in the second game, breaking Coufal’s confident opening five-point run.

But Coufal had Ingale running around the court to earn just four points, before she closed the game 11-4. The final game was a repeat of the first, with Coufal again breaking away after trading two points with Ingale, and scoring nine points handily to take the game again 11-2.

Sachika Ingale: “She was playing really well, cutting the ball really good. I could’ve given her a very good fight, but that didn’t happen.”

Birgit Coufal: “I feel like either she was nervous or impatient. I tried to just keep the ball in play and hit my target.”

Nouran El Torky (EGY) v Urwashi Joshi (IND)

Coming off two solid performances in Malaysia, Nouran El Torky’s (EGY) experience on the tour easily saw her through the match. In the first game, Urvashi Joshi (IND) – surprisingly steely and focused for a junior playing her first WSA quarterfinal – traded points with El Torky, until El Torky broke away at 4-4 to score the next seven points consecutively and take the game.

Two misjudged tin shots from Joshi started El Torky’s run early in the next game. The veteran player’s stamina took care of the rest, and El Torky won the second game without breaking a sweat, 11-3. Joshi, tired and struggling, rallied admirably in the last game, going point for point with El Torky up to 5-5. But again, El Torky broke away. Joshi stayed calm in the face of defeat and managed to steal one match point from El Torky before the game ended 11-6.

Urwashi Joshi: “I was a bit nervous. This was my first WSA tournament. I was not able to run – I have to work on my fitness.”

Cheyna Tucker (RSA) v Sunayna Kuruvilla (IND)

In the last match of the day, Cheyna Tucker (RSA) took all three games, but not without a bit of struggle. While Tucker had newcomer Sunayna Kuruvilla (IND) running all around the court in her first WSA quarterfinal, Kuruvilla valiantly stretched to return ball after ball.

But the talented junior’s inexperience was apparent from the start, with Tucker smartly controlling the game. It was light shots off the front wall, Tucker found, that seemed to stump Kuruvilla most, giving Tucker an 11-2 victory. Kuruvilla regrouped for the next game and adjusted her play, making Tucker stretch during several rallies.

At 10-7, Kuruvilla managed to steal one game point before Tucker won 11-8. Frustrated and tired, Kuruvilla lost a couple of points in the third game with careless play, but both women scored off of some nice nicks to bring the game to 8-4. But a run of smart play and a power shot by Tucker took the game to 11-4, killing the chance of an Indian woman in the finals.

Cheyna Tucker: “I was very focused from the start, even though I was playing a junior. I saw her play yesterday, and she strikes the ball really nicely. I think I got on top of the game from the start and kept my focus to keep the lead throughout the match.

"I was impressed with her standard. It’s good to see good Indian juniors coming up the ranks. I’m happy to be in the semi-finals of this tournament.”

Sunayna Kuruvilla: “I played too many mistakes, played a bit more of a junior game. I’ve never played a WSA tournament before, so I’m just getting used to it.”

Round ONE:

Adam Murrills (Eng) vs Muhammed Asim Khan (Pak)

Adam was the first one of the blocks in this Marathon match which lasted 65 Mins to kickstart the 1st PSA Event in Jaipur. Khan came back strongly to go up 6-3 and 10-6 Game ball and then Murrills suddenly took his game up a notch to claw back the 1st game and take it into a tie break 10-10. He then played some very tight squash to win the 1st game 12-10.

In the 2nd Khan looked very determined and won quick points with some beautiful stroke play to dominate the game 4-1, 6-2, 8-4, 10-7 before Adam repeated the efforts of the 1st game and forced another tie break 10-10. Khan went for his shots and after 30 mins the scores were shared 1 game each.

In the 3rd game adam with his superior fitness and very tight drives dominated khan to win 11-3. The 4th game both players traded points 2-2, 4-4, 5-5, 7-7, 9-9 before Khan again hit some beautiful shots to take the match to decider 11-9.

The 5th game was even till 3-3 before Khan who was looking a bit tired started making errors and Adam capitalised and went up 9-4 and closed out the match 11-5 to book his spot in the Qtr Finals.

Harinderpal Sandhu (Ind) vs Gaurav Nandrajog (Ind)

Coming straight from Incheon, Korea, gold Medal winner Harinder Pal Sandhu was playing Gaurav Nandrajog, a former Indian Team Player who came through qualifying. Gaurav has always been a feisty player and had the measure of Sandhu in the 1st game which he won 11-9. In game two Sandhu played a better game and got his opponent behind him into the back of the court and broke away at 5-5 to win the 2nd 11-7.

Game 3 - Nandrajog took a 7-0 lead with some amazing wristy winners and lots of hard hitting while Sandhu’s delicate game seemed to be letting him down and Nandrajog won the 3rd 11-5. With the pressure all on Sandhu (who recently beat Mohd Azlan Iskandar of Malaysia in the Gold Medal Team Event Finals in the Asian Games) he fought back hard in the 4th to win the game 11-9 in a very physical and verbal game to force the match to a decider.

The 5th was all Sandhu who kept his nose ahead and won the decider 11-4. This was the 2nd 5 setter and one the crowds here at the Jaipur Club really enjoyed.

Carlos Cornes (Esp) vs Ravi Dixit (Ind)

Carlos who is in India for the 1st time was playing against Indian Ravi Dixit of the Indian Squash Academy. This was a fast paced match which Carlos seemed to be playing smarter and doing less as opposed to Ravi who looked like he was trying everything from hard shots, winners, flicks, X courts drops!

Carlos - “Good solid start and I’m pleased with my match. Ravi tried for too much and just gave away too much. Happy to be in the Qtrs”\

Ravi - “Not sure what happened. Too many errors”


Mahesh Mangaonkar (Ind) vs Vijay Kumar Meena (Ind)

Gold medalist at the Asian Games Mahesh Mangaonkar played against home favourite and the Wild Card for the JSW Circuit 1 Vijay Kumar Meena who learnt how to play at the Jaipur club till he was scouted by the Indian Squash Academy and is now based in Chennai where he part of the Indian Junior Team.

Mahesh started off very well and won the 1st game 11-1 dropping only the single point to and un forced error. In the 2nd game Vijay played much more freely and hung in there to build a small lead at 6-5 before Mahesh played some amazing shots from the T and closed out the game 11-8.

In the 3rd again Mahesh came out too strong and won convincingly 11-1 to book a place in the Qtr finals. He plays the winner of Deepak Kumar vs Matias Tuomi of Finland tomorrow.

Velavan Senthilkumar (Ind) vs Arthur Moineau (Fra)

The big upset of the day was from when India’s 16 yr old Junior who recently joint to PSA World Tour and played in some PSA Challenger Events earlier in the year defeated 7th seed Arthur Moineau (FRA) in straight games. The conditions didn’t seem to suit Arthur who seemed extremely unhappy with the referee as well as the Air conditioning which as he put it was Non existent.

Velavan played a very solid match and we must take anything away from his performance. He is one of the bright talents emerging from the ISA in Chennai and is a very cool customer who kept the ball in play as well as picked up and got a lot of balls back from Moineau who died to get up on the T and volley everything.

Left handed Senthilkumar has a very neat technique as most left handers do and he played to his strengths getting his length and width to perfection and used his very effective drop shot frequently which gave him lots of dividends.

Velavan Senthilkumar now plays Angus Gillams of Eng in the Qtr finals at the Jaipur club cetre court tomorrow at 4pm.


WSA Challenger 5 - Round One

Sunayna Kuruvilla (Ind) vs Nikita Joshi (Ind)

In the women's draw the day started with sunayna kuruvilla and nikita joshi two budding junior girls from india.

In the 1st game Sunayna started of with some fine shorts taking a lead of 2 points which was quickly covered by Nikita.

Nikita than took a long lead of few points . Leading 10-7 in the first game nikita went down loosing 12-10 with a lot of errors and some really good attacking volley drops.

In the 2nd game Sunayna attacking from the start took a lead of 4 points with some good rallies in play. Nikita rallied her way back into the game and leading 6-5, than some brilliant rallies where played with some really good and attacking game in display. Game went onto to 9-9 and then a wonderful volleydrop from sunayna and an unforced error cost nikita the game.

In the 3rd game Sunayna started off well taking a lead of couple of points attacking the ball and moving nikita around the court. Nikita came back rallying into the game leading 7-4. Playing some good and steady rallies sunayna moved to 7-6.

An amazing rally than played by nikita moving sunayna into the corners forcing her to hit the tin leveled the scores. Nikita moved on quickly to 9-7 hitting some really good and attacking shots. A good volley drop on the service into the nick sunayna changed the serve. From there sunayna played some steady rallies forcing nikita to hit the error moved onto 10-9 and a volley drop from the backhand corner made her win the match 3-0.

Men's Qualifying Finals:

The first match of the Final Qualifying Draw was between Gaurav Nandrajog – one of India’s senior players who was on the PSA Circuit and now is coaching in New Delhi. He played a strong match against Abhinav Sinha of Pune who is ranked 382 on the PSA World Rankings.

Gaurav Started strong to win the 1st game 11-4, The second game was much tighter with longer rallys and some god flicks from both players ut at 7-7 Nandrajog took the lead with 2 beautiful kills and closed out the game. Abhinav started well in the 3rd and looked much more determined and again some quick points and the game was level at 3-3 and 7-7.

Nandrajog again used his experience to close out the match in 33 mins for a place in the Main draw at the 1st ever PSA event in Jaipur as part of the JSW Cicruit .

The second match was between Muhammed Asim Khan of Pakistan and India’s newest PSA member Ashish Keskar of the Indian Air Force. Khan who is in India for the 1st time for a PSA event played some fantastic shots and had the crowd excited.

Khan won the 1st game comfortably in 7 mins to go up 1-0 and then really took it up a gear to win the 2nd 11-1. Keskar gave it all in the 3rd and picked up every ball using his fitness but couldn’t overcome khan to lose the 3rd 11-8.

The 3rd match was between Ranvijay Sinh and Velavan Senthilkumar. Velavan who is also one of India’s top Juniors started strong to win the 1st comfortably 11-2. The 2nd game also saw Velavan who is from Chennai and trains at the ISA took a 7-3 lead after being down 1-3 to eventually win a better quality 2nd game 11-6. The 3rd game Ranvijay Singh came out firing on all cylinders and took a lead of 4-0, 6-2 and 9-3 to take the game 11-4.

The 4th game was the closest game with both players trading points and some amazing rallys. Singh again took the lead and was 8-4 before Velavan came back to make it 7-8. Singh had a game ball at 10-9 as well as 11-10 and again at 12-11 before the young Velavan Senthilkumar leveled again at 12-12 to set up his 1st match point and win the longest match of the day 14-12 in 48 minutes.

The last match of the day was between Deepak Mishra from Dhampur Sugar Mills, who trains at the Indian Squash Academy, and Sandeep Jangra, of the Indian Air Force. Deepak won the first game 11-6 in 12 minutes and doubled his lead and looked to be in complete control of the match winning the second 11-6 as well. Deepak looked like he would close out the match at 6-1 in the third, before Sandeep finally found his length and touch to level things at 6-6.

They traded points to go 8-8, and Sandeep finally won 11-9 to take the match to the fourth game. Deepak again went up 8-3 and closed out the match 11-7 to win in 50 minutes and book a place in tomorrow’s Main Draw.

We have some interesting match ups in the main draw, with Jaipur’s wild card Vijaykumar Meena, from ISA, playing against top seed Mahesh Mangaonkar, recently returned from winning a gold medal at the Asian Games. Deepak Mishra plays Matias Tuomi, the fourth seed from Finland. Velavan Senthilkumar plays Arthur Moineau of France. Gaurav Nandrajog plays Harinder Pal Sandhu in another all-Indian match up. Pakistan’s Asim Khan plays against Adam Murrills of England as the final qualifier. Ashish Keskar, of the Indian Air Force, who recently joined the PSA World Tour, got the lucky loser spot, playing Angus Gillams of England.

#1 Jaipur | #2 Mumbai | #3 Mumbai | #4 Chennai