Jr Squash: Nanavati upsets Navaneeth; to meet Punjabi in Boy's U-15 final

India's Kanhav Nanavati, the joint 3-4th seed displayed superb fighting spirit while defeating compatriot and second seed Navaneeth Prabhu in a boys' under-15 semi-final match of the 9th Indian Junior Open Squash tournament here.
The Asian Squash Federation Platinum tournament is being organised by the Bombay Gymkhana.
Nanavati started positively by winning the opening game, but the higher seeded player Prabhu made a strong reply by winning the next two games to take a 2-1 lead.
But Nanavati, not prepared to throw in the towel, fought back in splendid fashion to take the last two games, including a tense decider to clinch a hard-earned 11-6, 8-11, 8-11, 11-3, 14-12 victory and move to the final.

In the other semi-final, which was also an all-Indian affair, number one seed Tanay Punjabi had quite a fight on hand, but managed to sideline unseeded Arnaav Sareen 11-9, 4-11, 11-8, 11-9.
In Girls' under-15 matches, top seeded Indian Ananya Dabke recovered after losing the first game to overcome compatriot and joint 3-4th seed Aryaa Ogale in four games winning at 10-12, 11-6, 11-3, 11-9.

In the final, Dabke will clash with Malaysian Aira Azman who defeated Yu Ng Chen also from Malaysia 11-9, 11-5, 11-6 in the second semi-final.
Results - Girls' U-13 (semi-finals): 1-Sehveetrraa Kumar (Malaysia) bt Kaavya Bansal (Ind) 11-3 11-3 11-5; 2-Yuvna Gupta (Ind) bt Pooja Aathi (Ind) 12-5 11-5 6-11 7-11 11-5.

Girls' U-15 (semi-finals): 1-Ananya Dabke (Ind) bt 3/ 4-Aryaa Ogale (Ind) 10-12 11-6 11-3 11-9; Aira Azman (Malaysia) bt Yu Ng Chen (Malaysia) 11-9 11-5 11-6.
Boy's U-13 (semi-finals): 1-Yuvraj Wadhwani (Ind) bt Rutva Samant (India) 11-7 11-5 11-9; 3/ 4-Jaivir Singh Dhillon (Ind) bt 2-Yan Chun Chew (Malaysia) 11-9 7-11 11-6 11-4.
Boys' U-15 (semi-finals): 1-Tanay Punjabi (Ind) bt Arnaav Sareen (Ind) 11-9 4-11 11-8 11-9; 3/ 4-Kanhav Nanavati (Ind) bt 2-Navaneeth Prabhu (Ind) 11-6 8-11 8-11 11-3 14-12.