Velavan enters final to ensure all-Indian contest

In a rare historic moment, it will be an all-Indian affair in the final of the ongoing British Junior Open Squash tournament as Velavan Senthilkumar stormed into the title clash of the prestigious event, here today.
Earlier, three Indians, Velavan, Adhitya Raghavan and Abhay Singh reached the semi-finals of the boys' Under-19 category to propel the chances of an all-Indian contest in the summit clash.
The all-Indian contest in the final was decided after Velavan defeated second seed Youssef Ibrahim of Egypt in straight games 11-7 11-5 11-9 in 28 minutes in the first semi-final.
The other semifinal between Adhitya Raghavan and Abhay Singh will take place later in the night.

It was in 2004 last that an Indian had made it to the final in this section and on that occasion, Saurav Ghosal went on to win the title.
"This is the best thing that has happened to Indian squash in recent times," said national coach Cyrus Poncha.

Earlier in the day, Abhay was the first to progress after a tremendous come back from two games down to get past 5-8th seed Kyle Finch of England.
Adhitya, who had reached the semi-final in the US Open just a few days ago, showed his mettle again dowing the giant-killer Andrew Douglas of USA.

The only seeded among the three Indians, Velavan then exhibited his potential while ending the run of 3-4th seed Victor Crouin of France in four games after losing the first.
Results:
Quarterfinals U-19: Abhay Singh bt Kyle Finch (Eng) 5-11 6-11 11-8 11-6 11-8; Adhitya Ragavan bt Andrew Douglas (USA) 10-12 11-4 11-8 14-12; Velavan Senthilkumar bt Victor Crouin (Fra) 6-11 11-8 11-9 11-8.
Semifinal: Velavan Senthilkumar bt Youssef Ibrahim 11-7 11-5 11-9.