Mangaonkar for CCI-Western India Squash

Squash action returns to the Cricket Club of India, the home of Indian squash, as some of the country’s leading players will feature in the 70th CCI-Western India Open Squash Tournament that will be held at the Cricket Club of India from November 10 to 16.

The 70th CCI-Western India tournament, the oldest in the world and being conducted uninterrupted for seven decades, will include the Men’s Open, Women, Professionals and junior categories for boys and girls.

The tournament is being organised under the aegis of the Squash Rackets Federation of India and the Squash Rackets Association of Maharashtra.

The men’s field will feature India’s rising star Mahesh Mangaonkar who has recently made waves on the international circuit, national junior champion Kush Kumar who is the first Indian to win gold at the 2013 Asian Youth Games in Nanjing, China, India junior No. 2 Deepak Mishra, former Asian Junior champion Ravi Dixit and former champion Gaurav Nandrajog.

Once again a large number of players from all over the country will make the trip to Mumbai for one of the sport’s most prestigious tournaments. A significant number of players especially from Goa, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu will arrive to challenge the local talent and enhance the level of competition among the juniors.

There is a posse of talented juniors who are likely to spring a surprise and catch the eye and they include national champion Veer Chotrani and runner-up Tushar Shahani, Yohan Pandole, Aryan Parikh and Dev Vazirani, all of Mumbai and Goa’s Yash Salunke and Rahil Pires.

The brother and sister duo of Neel and Nikita Joshi of Otters Club, Mumbai will be the favourites in their respective categories after both emerged champions in the Sub Junior & Junior National Championships at Indore last week.

While Nikita will renew her rivalry with arch-rival and national runner-up Akanksha Salunkhe of Goa, the other girls to watch out for are Aishwarya Bhattacharya and Jui Kalgutkar of Mumbai.