Velavan Senthilkumar (in front) in action at the World Junior Squash Championships. (Image courtesy: WSF WorldJuniors Twitter)
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18-year-old Velavan Senthilkumar is flying the Indian Tricolour high at the World Junior Individual Squash Championship! The U-19 National champion defeated Pakistan’s Asif Kashif 5-11, 11-3, 11-3, 11-3 to book his berth in the quarter-finals of this prestigious event held at Bielsko-Biala in Poland on Monday.
The 9/16 seeded Senthilkumar will next take on the second seed Eain Yow Ng of Malaysia for a place in the semi-finals.
However, curtains came down on the campaign of Adithya Raghavan who bowed out 7-11, 3-11, 9-11 to the 5/8th seeded Frenchman Benjamin Aubert, leaving Senthilkumar as the lone Indian left in the draw.
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Superb comeback from Velavan
The left-handed Senthilkumar initially had it very tough against his giant-killer opponent in his Round 4 match. His miseries were compounded further by his flurry of errors and he went on to lose the opening game 5-11.
But the Chennai boy stormed back in spectacular fashion and gave ample glimpses of his immense talent to take the next three games. Attacking with precision, he controlled the forecourt to take the sting out Asif’s racquet. The match lasted 35 minutes.
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National coach Cyrus Poncha too was impressed with the way Velavan turned around this fourth round contest.
“It was a fabulous performance. I am happy he is proving himself. Let’s hope he keeps the good work going and wins a medal,” said Poncha.
The teenager needs to win the quarter-final to be assured of a medal.
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About the author
Sudeshna Banerjee
Sudeshna is a veteran Indian Sports and International Tennis journalist as well as editor at Sportskeeda. She has an overall experience of over 10 years with top publications like The Bridge, Fox Sports Asia, and gained a keen interest in Indian sports since the 2002 Commonwealth and Asian Games when she was in school.
Sudeshna holds a Master's degree in Journalism and Mass Communication. She attends tournaments regularly and being a highly experienced journalist, she ensures she only contacts the correct people from her network for the most authentic information to be put in her articles.
Sudeshna’s favorite Indian athlete is PV Sindhu owing to her big-tournament performances. She also admires Tennis legend Rafael Nadal for his resilience and has witnessed the Spaniard in action at the French Open, due to which, Roland Garros is her all-time favorite Grand Slam tournament.
Neeraj Chopra’s gold medal win at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics made a lasting impact on Sudeshna. She has also interviewed him along with Badminton star Chirag Shetty and several other sports personalities. She has done on-ground reporting on multiple ITF tournaments along with the Premier Badminton League, Asian Boxing Championships and the Davis Cup.
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