Velavan and Akansha win double crowns in Western Indian squash

Velavan Senthilkumar was once again in top form on Sunday

Top seed Velavan Senthilkumar of Tamil Nadu won the men’s and boys under-19 titles, in the 72nd CCI-Western India Open Squash Tournament which concluded at the Cricket Club of India.

Also living up to her top billing was Akanksha Salunkhe of Goa who beat second seed Urwashi Joshi of Jindal, Mumbai 11-5, 11-3, 11-5 for the women’s crown, and got the better of Sunayna Kuruvilla of Tamil Nadu 11-7, 8-11, 11-4, 11-5 for the girls’ under-19 title.

Stylish left-hander Senthilkumar, a product of the Indian Squash Academy, Chennai overcame second seed Sandeep Jangra of Air Force 13-11, 11-9, 11-8 for the men’s crown and prevailed over second seed Ranjit Singh of Uttar Pradesh 11-6, 10-12, 11-4, 3-11, 11-8 for the under-19 title.

The Commonwealth Youth Games bronze medallist and national under-19 champion Senthilkumar was involved in an entertaining contest in the men’s section that promised to go the distance but lasted just 32 minutes. A supremely confident Sandeep was in complete command initially and raced to game ball at 10-7 in the opener. But at that juncture Senthilkumar came up with the surprise turn around to take the first game on extra points.

Jangra again was in lead in the second game with a slew of brilliant shots that left Senthilkumar helpless. He made the Chennai boy dance to his tune but once again, when poised to draw level, he slipped into unforced errors.The story was no different in the third game. Jangra continued to delight with stunning drops and nicks, but disappointed soon after by hitting the tin on numerous occasions to lose the game and match. Jangra lamented after the match that “I was playing my shots and unfortunately I hit the tin too many times.” While the ex-Don Bosco student from Egmore Senthilkumar said on his win, “I just tried to keep the ball in and minimized the errors.”

Other results: all final:

Professional: Parthiban Ayyapan (TN) bt Paramit Singh (UP) 11-6, 5-11, 6-11, 11-4, 11-5.

Boys : U-13: -Neel Joshi bt Yash Salunkhe (Goa) 11-3, 11-1, 11-2; ( U-15): Veer Chotrani bt Saksham Choudhary (Del) 10-12, 11-9, 11-4, 11-8; (U-17): Aryaman Adik bt Yash Bhargava (Del) 14-12, 11-9, 7-11, 11-3; .

Girls: U-11: Aasya Patel (MP) bt Advita Sharma 11-6, 11-3, 11-2; ( U-13) : Ananya Dabke bt Aishwarya Khubchandani 11-7, 11-8, 11-3; (U-15): Navmi Sharma bt Megha Bhatia (Del) 11-8, 7-11, 11-8, 6-11, 11-8; ( U-17): Ashita Bhenga (TN) bt Nikita Joshi 13-11, 11-8, 11-7