Squash meet: Hana, Tanvi advance to semis on day of upsets

The second day of the HCL-SRFI India Tour, a squash tournament, was filled with upsets as Hana Ramadan of Egypt rallied to beat top seed Rachel Arnold of Malaysia 11-9, 11-8, 11-2 to advance to the semi-finals of the event here on Thursday.

Sixth seed Tanvi Khanna fought hard to get past 4th seed Sunayna Kuruvilla to also enter the semis.

While Hanna managed to keep her top-seeded opponent at bay winning crucial points, Tanvi had to put in all her efforts to get past Sunayna.

It was Sunayna who had a strong start, dominating Tanvi to take the first game 11-5.

Tanvi found her rhythm winning the 2nd and 3rd games to take a 2-1 lead, but faltered in the 4th game, helping Sunayna level the scores.

Tanvi held her nerves and got back to her attacking style of play to take the 5th game 11-7 and the match by 5-11, 11-7, 11-8, 8-11, 11-7 to advance to the semis.

In the quarter-final match, 2nd seed Aditya Jagtap breezed past unseeded Abhay Singh 11-5, 11-3, 11-3 to advance to the semis, while 4th seed Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu overcame a strong challenge from Ondrej Uherka of Czech Republic and defeated him in five games to advance to the semis.

After winning the opening game by 4 points at 11-7, Harinder lost his way losing the 2nd and 3rd game 9-11 and 6- 11 putting Ondrej in the drivers seat for the tie.

Harinder brought back his energies from the 1st game and played long rallies tiring his opponent to take the 4th and 5th games 11-6, 11-7 to setup a semi-final clash with 2nd seed Aditya Jagtap.

Meanwhile, wild card Abhishek Agarwal continued his fine run, defeating Angus Gillams of Scotland 11-13, 11-2, 3- 11, 13-11, 11-9 in an epic five-game thriller that lasted 67 minutes.

In the mens open round 2 match between Mahesh Mangaonkar and Senthilkumar, the former, when leading 8-5 in the 5th game, had an unfortunate clash with the latter and pushed him to the wall.

Senthilkumar won the point, but was unable to continue the match as he hurthis knee due to the collision.

The referee ruled this as an opponent inflicted accidental injury.

Since he was unable to continue, the match, as per the rules of the game, was awarded in Velavan's favour.

Results: Womens Open (Quarter Finals) Hana Ramadan [7] bt Rachel Arnold [1] (MAS) 11-9, 11-8, 11-2; Tanvi Khanna [6] (IND) v Sunayna Kuruvilla [4] (IND)5-11, 11-7, 11-8, 8-11, 11-7; Anna Kimberley [3] (ENG) bt Aishwarya Khubchandani (IND)11-8, 11-6, 9-11, 11-9 Results: Mens Open (Quarter Finals) Aditya Jagtap [2] (IND) bt Abhay Singh (IND)11-5, 11 -3, 11-3 ; Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu (IND) bt Ondrej Uherka (CZE) 11-7, 9-11, 6-11, 11-6, 11-7; [WC] Abhishek Agarwal (IND) v [6] Angus Gillams (SCO)11-13, 11-2, 3-11, 13-11, 11-9