Squash: India finish 7th at World Junior Squash

India’s team with coach Cyrus Poncha

Harshit Kaur & Lakshya Ragavendran ensured India signed off on a happy note, beating New Zealand 2-1 to finish 7th at World Junior Women Team Championships in Wroclaw, Poland.

Indian girls found the perfect way to bury the ghosts of Friday’s tight loss against Canada, edging a close and well-fought tie against New Zealand in the final game of the final match. Sachika Ingale was stung by an incredible turnaround from Abbie Palmer but Harshit Kaur Jawanda and Lakshya Ragavendran ensured there was no repeat of the previous match in sealing a 2-1 win that saw India finish 7th in the competition.

Sachika Ingale, who has played well through the individual and team championships in Poland, was first up on court against Abbie Palmer with both teams looking for a morale boosting win to set the tone for this tie. Sachika was irresistible to begin with, utterly dominating the exchanges and hardly conceding a point to the Kiwi youngster. Sachika bagged the first two games for the loss of just 5 points and looked set for an easy win. Abbie Palmer, who has been lethargic in the first two games, responded to the dire situation with gusto, running down everything and playing some exceptional shots to win the third game and get herself a foothold in the match. Sachika took a 5/2 lead in the fourth but that was as good as it got for the Indian number 3 as Abbie saved her best for the last and left Sachika shell-shocked in stealing the match 3-2. Abbie only dropped three points in the final game that put New Zealand 1-0 up in the tie.

India’s top junior Harshit Kaur Jawanda once again demonstrated her growing maturity in using short kills and drops to make the lanky Eleanor bend for her shots and stretched the Kiwi to all corners of the court. Harshit’s tactics paid rich dividends as she raced away to a two game lead. But, Eleanore came back strongly with some excellent drops of her own in the third and reduced the deficit. In a closely fought fourth game, the scores were tied at 8/8 and Harshit held her nerve to close out the match and draw India level with New Zealand.

Lakshya Ragavendran took on the mantle of closing out the match against Rebecca Barnett. It was not such a great start for Lakshya, losing the first game 9/11 to 2012 New Zealand Junior Open Champion. Lakshya found herself trailing in the second game as well and was in serious danger of going 0-2 down, but clawed back and snatched the game 16/14. Lakshya had a 10/5 lead in the third but frittered away the advantage as Rebecca reeled off 7 points in a row to take the game. Lakshya struggled to keep the lead once again in the fourth game but somehow held on to win 12/10 and set-up an intriguing decider. The final game proved to be a real humdinger with the momentum switching sides setting up an exciting climax for both the teams. Lakshya led 5/2 only for Rebecca to reel off 5 points on the bounce taking a 7/5 lead. The scores were level at 9/9 and the tie came down to a battle of wills. Where Sachika faltered against Canada yesterday, Lakshya clearly learned the lessons and won the next two points to clinch the match and tie for India.

The participants at the competition

On India’s seventh place in the tournament, Indian National Coach Cyrus Poncha said, “Overall, it was good event for the Indians. Obviously, I would have liked for us to do better. However, it was an incredible learning experience for the rapidly developing squad and I am happy with the performances”.

Result: India 2-1 New Zealand

Sachika Ingale lost to Abbie Palmer 11/4 11/1 5/11 9/11 3/11Harshit Kaur Jawanda beat Eleanore Epke 11/6 11/5 4/11 11/8Lakshya Ragavendran beat Rebecca Barnett 9/11 16/14 10/12 12/10 11/9