Tamil Nadu sweeps titles in ISA Junior Open

In all, nine finals were contested and ISA pupils won five of them in what turned out to be a day of exciting squash. Most matches were well fought with a few going to the wire to raise tantalizing moments. Perhaps the closest two ties were in the boy’s section where top seed Arihant KS in the U-13 and Kanhav Nanavati in the U-17 category winning by a whisker. Arihant jumped to a two-game lead before the fight in his opponent P R Sandhesh came out.  The Salem boy took the next two games to queer the pitch but, in the decider Arihant seemed in better frame of mind to sail through with a touch of assurance.However, it was a tougher proposition for Kanvav as his stable mate Navaneeth Prabhu (both are ISA trainees) came back strongly from two game arrears to push for a win. Points went neck and neck in the deciding fifth game before a ‘stroke’ at the championship point did in Navaneeth. The contest could not have gone closer.

Three players deserve special mention because they had ousted the respective top seeds. The three heroic winners were Rohan Arya Gondi from Telangana in U-15 boys, Ananya Narayanan and Abhisheka Shananon in the U-11 and U-17 girls categories respectively.

Results (all finals): Boys: (U-19): Saksham Choudhary (2), DL, bt Gowtham Karthick (3/4), TN, 11-5 11-5 11-2; (U-17): Kanhav Nanavati (3/4), TN, bt Navaneeth Prabhu S (3/4), TN, 11-7 11-8 5-11 8-11 12-10; (U-15): Rohan Arya Gondi (9/16), TS, bt Parthiv Yagnesh Natarajan (1), TN, 12-10 13-11 11-8;(U-13): Arihant Ks (1), TN, bt Sandhesh PR(2), TN, 11-8 14-12 9-11 5-11 11-6; (U-11): Darshil Parasrampuria (1), TN, bt Rahul Sanjay Balakrishnan (2), KA, 11-3 12-10 8-11 8-11 11-9.

Girls: (U-17): Abhisheka Shannon (2), TN, bt Trina Iris (1), TN, 11-9 11-8 11-4;(U-15): S Akshaya Sri (3/4), TN, bt Vasudha Surange (3/4), DL, 11-4 13-11 11-5;(U-13): Khushboo (1), UP, bt Brithika N, TN, 12-10 11-3 11-5; (U-11):Ananya Narayanan (5/8), TN, bt Sahana Kalaivanan (1), TN, 11-8 11-3 11-7.