Giant-killer Abhay wins title

Abhay Singh of Tamil Nadu turned giant-killer when he shocked second-seed Aryaman Adik of Otters Club to earn the boys' under-15 title in the 37th Bombay Gymkhana Maharashtra State Open Junior Squash Championship on Tuesday.

Seeded in the five to eight slot, Singh, who stunned top seed Dev Vazirani in the quarter-finals and No. 3 Yohaan Surti in the semi-finals, was the toast of the competition when he scalped Adik with a thrilling 3-2 win after leading 2-1 and snatching a nail-biting decider over extra points. Aryaman's younger brother Advait made amends when as the second-seed he upset top-seed and Hong Kong Open winner Yash Fadte of Goa in another 3-2 thriller that went down to the wire in the under-11 final.

Advait led 2-1 after dropping the opening set before Fadte enjoyed an envious 10-7 lead in the decider and frittered away the advantage.

Exciting action continued in the girls' category as under-13 top seed Koel Shankar of Khar Gymkhana endured a determined challenge from lower ranked Aakanksha Rao before snatching a 12-10, 12-10, 11-6 victory for the title.

Kush Kumar of Tamil Nadu won the boys' under 17 crown but was denied a double when he went down to favourite Mahesh Mangaonkar in an absorbing under-19 title clash.

Results

(All finals): U-9: Jay Vakhnalli (Khar Gym) bt Jen Pandove 11-3, 11-6, 11-4; Girls' U-11: 1-Meghna Bhatia (Hiranandani) bt 2-Avani Nagar (Hiranandani) 11-4, 11-1, 11-7; Girls' U-13: 1-Koel Shankar (Khar Gym) bt Aakanksha Rao 12-10, 12-10, 11-6; Girls' U-15: 2-Adya Advani (Delhi) bt Nikita Joshi (Otters Club) 11-8, 11-7, 14-12; Girls' U-17: Gayatri Raheja (Otters Club) bt Sireena Divecha (Bombay Gym) 11-4, 11-2, 11-2; Girls' U-19: Urvashi Joshi (Jindal) bt Vishruti Sani (CCI) 11-9, 11-5, 11-5; Boys' U-11: 2-Advait Adik (Otters Club) bt 1-Yash Fadte (Goa) 11-7, 3-11, 11-7, 4-11, 12-10; Boys' U-13: 1-Chaitanya Shah (Bombay Gym) bt Veer Chotrani (Khar Gym) 11-6, 11-6, 11-8; Boys' U-15: Abhay Singh (TN) bt 2-Aryaman Adik (Otters Club) 5-11, 11-7, 11-6, 2-11, 15-13; Boys' U-17: 1-Kush Kumar (TN) bt 2-Madhav Dhingra (Otters Club) 11-5, 11-5, 11-5; Boys' U-19: 1-Mahesh Mangaonkar (CCI) bt 2-Kush Kumar (TN) 4-11, 11-2, 9-11, 11-2, 11-9.

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