The Hindu : Sport / Squash : Vikram and Dipika triumph

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Wednesday, Nov 05, 2008
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Sport - Squash

Vikram and Dipika triumph

Sports Reporter

Both post straight-set wins

— Photo: K. Pichumani

Winners All: The champions in various age-groups in the National junior squash championships.

CHENNAI: Top seed Vikram Malhotra’s last National tournament as a junior was a memorable one as it yielded him the under-19 crown at the ICL Squash Academy here on Tuesday. Vikram, who turns 19 next week, drubbed State-mate and second seed Aditya Jagtap in straight games in the final.

There was little to choose between the two players as the clash got underway, but Vikram banked on his superior understanding of the ‘T’ game at crucial junctures and found it up to the test.

Serving at 8-8 in the first game, he used a deceptive mix of oblique drops to inch to 10-8 before Aditya banged one into the tin to give him the game.

Vocal support

With raucous backing from the Mumbai contingent, both players delved deep into their box of tricks. Aditya managed to sneak in a couple of drop shots himself and even swung one between the legs, but each time Vikram neutralised his aggression with exquisite short balls placed deep in the corners. He ran up four consecutive points at 7-7 to clinch the second, and then confronted the joyous situation of five matchballs at 10-5 in the third. Aditya tasted a mini-recovery of sorts with three consecutive points before Vikram’s angular offering to the right court induced another error to end the match.

Second consecutive title

In the girls’ under-19 category, Dipika Pallikal exhibited, among other qualities, a mastery of the dead ball and won her second successive National junior tournament. She had Rajasthan’s Surbhi Misra in a tangle with vicious underspin and wrong-footed her several times during the twenty minute encounter.

The Tamil Nadu girl raced to a 7-0, 3-0, and 5-0 lead in the first, second and third game respectively and gave little chance to her panting opponent to play catch up.

Other noteworthy winners included TNs Karan Malik and Harita Om Prakash in the under-17 boys’ and girls’ category respectively, and Anaka Alankamony in the girls’ under-15 sectionAnother young champ for Tamil Nadu was Roshan R.K. in the boys’ under-11 class. The wins helped Tamil Nadu swell its tally in the tournament to five titles against three for Delhi and two for Maharashtra.

Meanwhile, lucky loser Naresh Kumar made it through after Chris Truswell withdrew from the PSA-Indian Challenger One tournament.

The results (all finals): Girls: Under-11: Adya Advani (DEL) bt Aishwarya Bhattacharya (MAH) 11-4,11-3,8-11,11-1; Third place: Rayna Kishanchandani (MAH) bt Jui Kalgutar (MAH) 21-19, 6-11, 11-8, 11-9. Under-13: Pankhuri Malhotra (DEL) bt Lakshya Ragvendra (TN) 10-12, 11-6, 11-9, 11-3; Third place: Heba Johnson (RAJ) bt Likhitta Dugar (TN) 11-13, 11-7, 11-8, 11-8. Under-15: Anaka Alankamony (TN) bt Saumya Karki (MAH) 11-9, 11-6, 12-10; Third place: Aprajitha Balamurukan (TN) bt Shria Khatri (MAH) 11-6, 11-6, 7-11, 11-7. Under-17: Harita Om Prakash (TN) bt Ankita Sharma (MAH) 11-6, 11-9, 11- 3; Third place: Dheeya Somaiya (MP) bt Tanvi Jain (MP) 11-7, 11-3, 9-11, 11-9. Under-19: Dipika Pallikal (TN) bt Surbhi Misra (RAJ) 11-5, 11-5, 11-2; Third place: Anwesha Reddy (TN) bt Swati Muchhal (MP) 11-3, 11-2, 11-5.

Boys: Under-11: Roshan R.K. (TN) bt A. Rishidev (TN) 11-9, 11-2, 11-6; Third place: Ranjeet Singh (UP) bt Robin Mann (DEL) 11-6, 11-8, 11-6. Under-13: Kush Kumar (DEL) bt Raghav Mehrotra (MAH) 11-5, 11-2, 11- 8; Third place: Abhimanyu Shah (MAH) bt Sandeep Ramachandran (TN) 9-11, 11-4, 11-7, 11-6. Under-15: Mahesh Mangaonkar (MAH) bt Vivek Dinodia (WB) 11-6, 9-11, 11-6, 11-2; Third place: Vrishab Kotian (TN) bt Deepak Mishra (DEL) 11-7, 11-9, 11-5. Under-17: Karan Malik (TN) bt P. Abhishek (TN) 11-7, 8-11, 11-2, 11-8; Third place: Ravi Dixit (TN) bt Ramit Tandon (TN) 11-7, 11-1, 11-2. U-19: Vikram Malhotra (MAH) bt Aditya Jagtap (MAH) 11-8, 11-7, 11-8; Third place: Paramit Singh (TN) bt J. Laxman (MAH) 12-10, 11-8, 11-9.

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