Ghosal faces Sandhu in title round

There were few surprises as the results panned out on expected lines with the top two seeds in both men's and women's sections reaching the title round on Saturday in the 63rd National Squash Championships.

Saurav Ghosal, gunning to regain the title, will face his last year's conqueror Harinder Pal Sandhu in the men's final. Both players had fairly smooth sailing in the semi-finals though Ghosal conceded a game to Kush Kumar before prevailing over the hugely talented youngster. Sandhu, on the other hand, overcame Ravi Dixit without much fuss.

Similar was the scene in the women's section with Joshna Chinappa, looking for her 14th title, making short work of school girl challenger Sunayna Kuruvilla while National junior champion Harshit Kaur Jawanda ousted the lone Goan entry, Akanksha Salunkhe.

Semi-final results:

Men: Saurav Ghosal (TN) bt Kush Kumar (TN) 11-8, 11-7, 6-11, 12-10; Harinder Pal Sandhu (TN) bt Ravi Dixit (TN) 11-6, 11-4, 13-11.

Women: Joshna Chinappa (TN) bt Sunayna Kuruvilla (TN) 11-3, 11-5, 11-6; Harshit Kaur Jawanda (Del) bt Akanksha Salunkhe (Goa) 11-7, 12-10, 11-9.