Squash: Kush stops Beddoes for last-eight berth

Kush Kumar came up with a fluent display as he surprised fourth seed Lance Beddoes of New Zealand 11-2, 11-9, 8-1, 11-5, en route to the quarter finals of the final leg of the JSW-PSA Challenger squash here Sunday.

The Indian National junior champion, whose reputation soared after his recent good show in the Junior World championship in Namibia, lived up to expectations. Kush was in control right from start and except for a brief lull in his concentration, never looked in danger.

Two other Indians, Sunayna Kuruvilla and Deepak Mishra, caught the attention for their plucky efforts, though both lost but only just after stretching their opponents to the distance.

Austrian Birgit Coufal, World ranked 67, was taken by surprise by Sunayna's resilience and fight back from two games down.

"She is a good talent and had seen her earlier. She played very well. I just managed to win," Coufal who has been playing in every leg of this series, said of the match.

Top seed in the women's section Dipika Pallikal and winner of the previous leg, had no issues against the national junior champion Harishit Kaur Jwanda, winning in straight games.

The results (pre-quarter-finals):

Men: Karim Ali Fathi (Egy) bt Adhitya Raghavan 11-4, 11-4, 11-6; Hannan Tarmidi (MAS) bt Deepak Mishra 11-9, 9-11, 11-8, 6-11, 11-5; Ravi Dixit bt Velavan Senthilkumar 11-5 11-8, 11-7; Kevi Moran (Sco) bt Vijay Meena 11-8, 11-4, 13-15, 13-11; Kush Kumar bt Lance Beddoes (Nzl) 11-2, 11-9, 8-1, 11-5; Hossam Nasser (Egy) bt Jonas Daehler (Switz) 11-6, 7-11, 12-10, 6-11, 11-4; Joel Makin (Wales) bt Abhinav Sinha 11-7, 11-5, 11-5; Harinderpal Sandhu bt Ahsan Ayaz (Pak) 11-4, 11-7, 8-11, 9-11, 11-7

Women: Dipika Pallikal bt Harishit Kaur Jwanda 11-6, 11-4, 11-3; Laksha Ragavendran bt Aparajitha Balamurukan 14-12, 11-9, 4-11, 12-10 ; Siyoli Waters (RSA) bt Uwashi Joshi 11-6, 11-3, 11-4; Sivasangari Subramanian (Mas) bt Sammer Anjum (Pak) 12-10, 11-3, 11-4; Cheyna Tucker (RSA) bt Saida Gul (Pak) 11-6, 11-8, 11-8; Birgit Coufal (AUT) bt Sunayna Kuruvilla 11-6, 11-8, 7-11, 6-11, 11-6; Satomi Watanabe (Jpn) bt Sachika Ingale 11-5, 7-11, 11-4, 11-8; Misaki Kobayashi (Jpn) bt Ashita Pranaya Bhengra A11-2, 11-1, 11-2.