The Hindu : Sport / Squash : Indian girls shine

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Jan 06, 2007
ePaper

Sport

Sport - Squash

Indian girls shine

CHENNAI: With the boys failing, the focus was on the Indian girls with five out of the six moving into the top 16 in the British junior open at Sheffield (England) on Thursday.

B. Aparajitha, A. Anaka and B. Sachika and K. Saumya featured in the under-13 section while Ankita Sharma played in the under-15 category. Shira Khatri, who was ill, lost in the under-13 section.

Meanwhile in the boys' section, Mahesh Mangaonkar, the only Indian to enter the quarterfinals, went down fighting to Pakistani Nematullah Khan in straight games. Earlier, Mahesh had beaten Egyptian Ahmed Abdel Latif 4-9, 2-9, 9-3, 9-2, 9-4 in a 45-minute duel for a last eight berth.

The results:

Boys: U-13: quarterfinals: Nematullah Khan (Pak) bt Mahesh Mangaonkar (Ind) 9-5, 10-9, 10-8; pre-quarterfinals: Mahesh bt Ahmed Abdel Latif (Egy) 4-9, 2-9, 9-3, 9-2, 9-4. U-15: pre-quarterfinals: Mohamed El Sherbeny (Egy) bt Ravi Dixit (Ind) 9-3, 7-9, 4-9, 9-5, 10-8; Charles Sharpes (Eng) bt Ramit Tandon (Ind) 9-4, 5-9, 10-8, 9-7; Amr Khalid Khalifa (Egy) bt Aditya Jagtap (Ind) 9-2, 9-2, 9-2.

Girls (second round): U-13: B. Aparajitha (Ind) bt Eleanor Eppke (Eng) 9-0, 9-0, 9-1; Sachika Balvani (Ind) bt Natalie Machin (Eng) 9-0, 9-1, 9-0; Anaka Alankamony (Ind) bt Emma Payne (Eng) 9-2, 9-0, 9-0; Saumya Karki (Ind) bt Hayul Lala (Egy) 9-4, 8-10, 3-9, 9-2, 9-6; Shira Khatri (Ind) lost to Emily Whitlock (Eng) 1-9, 1-9, 2-9; U-15: Ankita Sharma (Ind) bt Julia Lecoq 9-1, 9-6, 6-9, 5-9, 9-1.