Smooth sailing for men, seeds stunned in women's section

Smooth sailing was the order in men's section with none showing it better than the top two seeds - Mahesh Mangaonkar of Mahrashtra and Tamil Nadu's Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu - who breezed into the quarterfinals of Squash Nationals here Thursday.

The tussle was lot sharper in the women's section, including a few upsets, as the nationals went through the opening day of the main draw at the Siri Fort courts.

While Joshna Chinappa, the reigning and top seed hardly worked up sweat, Tanvi Khanna of Delhi drew the first round of cheers for toppling the higher seed and her national team mate Sunayna Kuruvilla of Tamil Nadu.

Equally creditable was the win of Delhi's Sanya Vats over higher seeded Sachika Ingale of UP. Tamil Nadu had a good day in the women's section with Aparajitha Balamurukan and Mayuri Namasivayam joining the last eight.

The Nationals has also space for the senior men's section with competitions for them in the age group 35, 40, 45, 50, 55 and 60 in place. In addition there is a section for the pro-coaches.