With a determined showing in the final, Tamil Nadu’s Abhishekha Shannon emerged the winner in the U-15 girls section with a hard fought win over higher seeded Gurlin Kaur of Delhi in a pulsating final on Saturday, the final day of the ISA junior squash open held at the Indian Squash Academy in Chennai.
Equally impressive in the last few days has been Utkarsh Baheti, the 5/8 seed in the U-19 boys section. And the Rajasthan lad showed grit to cap his good show by becoming the champion in that category with another confidence-boosting display to send out higher seeded Rahul Baitha of Maharashtra in a five-game thriller.
In total contrast was top seed Amita Gondi’s experience in the U-19 girls. The Telengana girl did drop a game but never looked out of control as she downed Radhika Rathore of MP for the title.
Another good show came in the girls U-13 section where Advita Sharma of Maharashtra seeded 5/8 stopped second seed Tiana Parasrampuria in straight games to clinch the final.
Final results:
Boys:
U-11: Dev Sharma (2), MH, bt. Priyaan Thakker (3/4), MH, 11-7 11-3 11-1;
U-13: Shaurya Bawa (1), DL, bt Ansh Tripathi (3/4), UK, 11-8 8-11 13-11 11-5;
U-15: Shreyas Mehta (1), MH, bt Mohit Bhatt (3/4), MH, 14-12 11-5 11-5;
U-17: Yash Fadte (3/4), GA, bt Diwakar Singh (3/4), UP, 11-7 11-5 11-6 ;
U-19: Utkarsh Baheti (5/8), RJ, bt Rahul Baitha (3/4), MH, 12-10 5-11 11-8 9-11 12-10
Girls:
U-11: Anahat Singh (1), DL, bt Akanksha Gupta (3/4), MH, 11-2 11-3 11-4;
U-13: Advita Sharma (5/8), MH, bt Tiana Parasrampuria (2), MH, 12-10 11-5 12-10;
U-15: Abhisheka Shannon (5/8), TN, bt Gurlin Kaur (3/4), DL, 11-9 9-11 12-10 11-8;
U-17: Sanya Vats (1), DL, bt. Samita S (3/4), TN, 11-7 11-5 11-4;
U-19: Amita Gondi (1), TS, bt Radhika Rathore (3/4), MP, 11-4 11-9 9-11 11-6.