Dalal stuns higher ranked Kushagra

Maharashtra's Shaan Dalal showed impressive touch to shock higher-ranked opponent Kushagra Singh and advance to the men's second round of the Otters Club Squash Open here on Monday.

Unseeded Dalal caught Kushagra Singh (17/32) by surprise with his aggressive play and drop shots to carve out a facile 11-4 ,11-0 ,11-3 victory in round one.

In another first round match, unseeded Shanay Dharod of Maharashtra upset Abhishek Sonthalia, who is seeded in the [17/32] bracket, 11-9, 11-5, 11-4 to advance to the second round.

Second seed Ranjit Singh of Services got off to a solid start in the tournament as he defeated unseeded Ajay Deshmukh 11-5, 11-5, 11-5 to move into the second round.

Top seed Abhishek Pradhan was awarded a walkover in round one.

The Results: Men (1st round): Husain Lunavad bt Anandrao Shinde 6-11, 11-4, 11-9, 11-0; Rohit Kadam bt Satish Sharma 11-5, 11-1, 11-8; Manjeet Gupta bt Kamaldas Mohandas 12-10, 7-11, 11-8, 8-11, 11-8; Shanay Dharod bt Abhishek Sonthalia [17/32] 11-9, 11-5, 11-4; Kunal Singh [9/16] bt Anagha Basu 11-3, 11-2, 11-2; Anshul Goyal [9/16] bt Sanjay Pawar 11-8, 11-4, 11-5; Imran Khan [17/32] bt Pradnesh More 11-4, 11-6, 11-1; Shaan Dalal bt Kushagra Singh [17/32] 11-4, 11-0, 11-3; Neel Joshi [9/16] bt Mahesh Kadam 11-6, 11-5, 11- 3; Aishwary Singh [5/8] bt Rohit Kadam 11-5, 11-7, 11-2 ; Pranat Gianchandani bt Varun Johnny [9/16] 11-4, 11-3, 11-5.