Nandrajog bests Rathore

By S.R. Suryanarayan

CHENNAI, DEC. 13. Gaurav Nandrajog let out such a scream in happiness that even he was surprised. But then it was understandable for he had beaten eighth seed Gajendra Singh Rathore (Rajasthan), a case of the pupil beating the master, to grab a quarterfinal berth in the men's event of the India Cements-senior National squash championship at the India Cements Academy courts here on Wednesday.

A semifinalist in the recent junior Nationals held here, the 16- year-old Delhi Army Public school student is in the camp for the Asian Junior championship under the watchful eyes of Rathore. ``I have never played him before and so it was a delight to beat him,'' the talented youngster gushed. The win was all the more sweet because it was a touch and go affair all the way. But then it should not have gone the distance.

Leading 5-0 in the fourth game after being 2-1 in game scores, Nandrajog should have neatly wrapped up the tie then and there. But that was where Rathore's experience took over. He slowed the pace, inducted a few variations in returns and Nandrajog duly obliged him by finding the tin or failing to `up' the ball.

Rathore wrested the initiative and for a brief moment it seemed all of Nandrajog's energetic movements, admirable strokes and rallies would fail him when the senior restored parity in game scores. But the Delhi boy regained his bearings in the decider to script a well earned win.

There was another upset when Delhi collegian Abhimanyu Jain, the National under-17 finalist and another camper, showed the exit to SSCB's A.S. Chonkar, the seventh seed. But repeated questioning by the latter took some sheen away from the match.

However, for the top two seeds, National champion Manish Chotrani and runner-up Ritwik Bhattacharya the heat is still not on.

The results: men: pre-quarterfinal: Manish Chotrani (Mah) bt Amit Chinai (Mah) 9-1, 9-1, 9-7; Gaurav Nandrajog (SRFI) bt Gajendra Singh Rathore (Raj) 9-4, 9-5, 9-10, 5-9, 9-6; Anuj Kalia (SSCB) bt Cyrus Poncha (Mah) 9-8, 9-3, 9-0; Bikram Uberoi (Mah) bt Neerav Tomar (SRFI) 9-0, 9-1, 9-0; Navneet Narain (SSCB) bt Sahil Vora (SRFI) 9-3, 9-4, 9-2; Dheeraj Singh (Raj) bt Varun Kataruka (SRFI) 9-6, 9-0, 9-1; Abhimanyu Jain (SRFI) bt A.S. Chonkar (SSCB) 9-7, 9-7, 2-9, 9-4; Ritwik Bhattacharya (Del) bt Saket Wali (Mah) 10-8, 9-1, 9-1.

Professionals: I round: Balamurugan (TN) bt Vijay Waghela (Mah) 9-0, 9-1, 9-0; Vijay Kumar Singh (MP) bt Vijay Sonawane (Mah) 9- 6, 9-3, 9-3; Santosh More (Mah) bt Kishore Bimania (Mah) 9-8, 9- 5, 9-2; Mahesh Verma (Mah) bt Chandan Jhadav (Mah) 9-1, 9-0, 9-0; Anant More (Mah) bt Adesh Gamare (Mah) 9-0, 9-1, 9-0; Dalip Tripathi (WB) bt Hari Om Tripathi (TN) 9-5, 9-6, 9-4.

Women: qualifying: Rachita Vora (SRFI) bt Rashna Patnayak (Mah) 9-5, 9-3, 9-3; Divya Rajay (TN) bt Anaheeta Dhalla (Mah) 9-2, 9- 1, 9-0.

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