Top Indians for Challenger squash

The Indian Squash Academy here will host the fourth and concluding round of the JSW Indian Squash Challenger circuit beginning Saturday, followed by the National sub-junior and junior championships that have received over 500 entries.

Speaking at a media conference here Thursday, S. Maniam, consultant coach of the Squash Rackets Federation of India (SRFI), said the challenger event, that concludes Wednesday, will see India's top players like Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu and Dipika Pallikal in action besides a host of foreign entries.

The National sub-junior and junior Championships will be held Oct 27-Nov 1 and have attracted 540 entries from 18 states, Maniam announced.

The fourth leg of the Challenger circuit will be headlined by 77th ranked Sandhu, winner in Jaipur and Mumbai (third leg) and Egypt's Nouran El Torky who won the women's titles in Jaipur and Mumbai (second leg) besides Pallikal, the champion in the third leg at Mumbai.

Kush Kumar, Velavan Senthilkumar (wild card) and Ravi Dixit will be the other Indians in the main draw that also includes Karim Ali Fathi (Egypt, ranked 46), Hannan Tarmidi (Malaysia, 176), Kevin Moran (Scotland, 135), Lance Beddoes (New Zealand, 137), Joel Makin (Wales, 189), Jonas Daehler (Switzerland, 168), Syed Ali Mujtaba Shah Bokhari (145) and Haseeb Gul (211), both from Pakistan.

While Pallikal will spearhead India's challenge in the women's section, the overseas players expected to take part are Siyoli Waters, Cheyna Tucker (both South Africa), Sivasangari Subramaniam, Siti Munirah Jusoh (both Malaysia), Sammer Anjum, Sadia Gul (both Pakistan), Brigit Coutal (Austria) and Misaki Kobayashi (Japan).