Big guy, bigger ambitions

Mangaonkar lost to an Egyptian in the semis and accepts that he was out-classed. "I started off fast and played well initially, sticking to my plan of keeping it straight, but then he started picking everything and hit some brilliant winners. I had a few chances from the mid-court at 8-8 in the third but I couldn't push for a win," he says sounding disappointed at the outcome against a junior who's already 77 on the PSA ranking charts and has two titles to his credit.

The enormity of the seniors circuit - and the top-grade squash - hits him straight away when he runs up against Frenchman Lucas Serme, who he beat in the final of the Prague Open (Mangaonkar's first PSA Challenger 5 title), in his first round at Barcelona next. He starts unseeded but is more wary of his opponent who will be thirsting for revenge a month after losing the Czech final. "It'll be a grudge match for him, but I need to keep in mind that I have to keep my record intact against him," he says, with the realisation dawning on him that as the curtains come down on his juniors career, the ascent will be necessarily steep.

Yet, here is one boy who can't be rid of the juniors days soon enough. "I learnt some things in juniors, but I can't wait to start out in the seniors. I'm happy I won't play the juniors anymore," he says, craving real competition now. His family has been supportive funding him to the tune of 25-30 lacs a year, but Mahesh Mangaonkar is keen that he starts winnng on the big stage and shoulders some of that burden.

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