Date:09/12/2004 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2004/12/09/stories/2004120903251900.htm

Sport - Squash

Sedate start to inter-State event

By Our Special Correspondent

CHENNAI, DEC. 8 . After the high of Tuesday when the absorbing men's final culminated with the emergence of a new senior National squash champion things quietened down at the TNSRA courts here on Wednesday with the inter-State team events getting underway.

Like in the open events earlier walkouts marred proceedings. But even more surprising was the virtual lack of entries in the women's section. Maharashtra usually sends a strong side but this time round it was conspicuous by its absence. With Uttranchal sending its entry at the last minute to join the Tamil Nadu `A' and `B' teams, there is the possibility of the women's competition being held from Thursday.

The men's competition went on expected lines with the focus on the local side spearheaded by Saurav Ghosal and New Delhi which has Ritwik Bhattacharya as a key player.

The results: Men: Pool `A': Services bt Tamil Nadu `B' 5-0 (Tarun Nauni bt Hari Narian Tripathi 9-2, 9-2, 9-0; M. Shekotkar bt Karan Malik 9-0, 9-4, 9-1; Vikas Jangra bt V. Laxman 9-1, 9-1, 9-2; D. Sisodia bt Vinodh 9-5, 9-7, 9-1; Shakti Singh bt Hari Om Tripathi 9-2, 9-2, 9-0); Maharashtra `B' bt Chandigarh 5-0 (Naishadh Lalwani bt Ishaan Wadera 9-1, 9-4, 9-3; Avinash Bhavnani bt Bhavneet Sachdev 9-2, 9-1, 9-1; Rohan Gracias bt Puneet Singh 9-1, 9-0, 9-2; Harjinder Singh bt Pranav Sharma 9-0, 9-0, 9-1; Dhiraj Nagpal bt Abhay Sood 9-3, 9-1, 9-2); New Delhi bt Tamil Nadu `B' 5-0 (Yashvardhan Singh bt Vinodh 9-1, 9-1, 9-0; Naresh Kumar bt Desappan 9-0, 9-0, 9-0; Gaurav Nandrajog bt Hari Om Tripathi 9-2, 9-3, 9-2; Mukhtiar Ali bt Karan Malik 9-0, 9-1, 9-2; Amjad Khan bt Hari Narian Tripathi 9-4, 9-2, 9-7).

Pool `B': West Bengal bt Uttar Pradesh 4-1 (Gautam Das bt Abdul Qadir 9-1, 9-3, 9-1; Nikhil Khemka bt Sanjay Madhwani 9-2, 9-1, 9-0; Dalip Tripathi bt Abhishek Jai Singh 9-1, 9-2, 9-0; Rishabh Mundra lost to Ambuj Sinha 5-9, 0-9, 8-10; Vikas Agarwal bt Abhijeet Bose 9-0, 9-2, 9-1); Maharashtra bt Uttranchal 4-1 (Mahesh Verma bt Prateek Goel 9-0, 9-0, 9-0; Vikram Malhotra bt Harsh Singh 9-0, 9-0, 9-0; Rishab Pandole lost to Tarun Verma 9-5 retd; Rushabh Vora bt Rohit Lohia 9-2, 9-2, 9-1; Supreet Singh bt Nitin Agarwal 9-0, 9-0, 9-1); Tamil Nadu bt West Bengal 5-0 (Harinder Pal Singh bt Gautam Das 9-0, 9-1 9-1; Cyril Kuhn bt Nikhil Khemka 9-4, 9-2, 9-0; Saurav Ghosal bt Dalip Tripathi 9-2, 9-0, 9-0; A. Parthiban bt Rishabh Mundra 9-2, 9-2, 9-2; Bala Murugan bt Vikas Agarwal 9-0, 5-9, 6-9).