Yash, Chaitanya advance to last four of squash tournament

Unseeded Yash Fadte and Chaitanya Shah stole the show by reaching the U-19 boys' semi-finals of the 3rd Indian Classic Junior Open Squash Tournament today.

Fadte, a 16-year-old Goa boy who has been making waves in the mens and the junior circuit, outplayed Raunak Advani of Maharashtra 11-7, 11-1, 11-4 at the Bombay Gymkhana here.

"This has been a great couple of weeks for me as I have been putting my training to good use. I have gained a lot of confidence by playing some of the top players," said Fadte.

"Ive played Raunak before and he is a very skilled opponent. Raunak was relentless at first, but I made him move around the court which helped me gain an advantage over him. The other two games were easier to control as he was tired and it helped win the game," he said after the match.

Shah, who caused an upset in the last round, followed it up by defeating Ajay Unadkat, who is seeded in the (5/8) bracket. He won a close contest 11-9, 11-8, 11-2.

Shah is to take on India No.1 Tushar Shahani in the semis. Shahani defeated Shloke Sahay 11-8, 11-6, 11-4 to advance to the last four.

In the girls U-19 group, unseeded Sanya Vats stunned second seed Radhika Rathore to reach the semis.

Sanya dominated the match, leaving no room for Radhika to make a comeback, and easily won 11-3, 11-5, 11-8.

She will meet Navmi Sharma for a berth in the final. Navmi breezed past Bhavna Goyal, seeded in the 5/8 bracket, 11-7, 11-0, 11-3.

Top seed Amita Gondi trounced Sparshi Mattas, placed in the 5/8 bracket, 11-8, 11-1 11-5 in another quarter-final encounter.

Results Boys U-19 (Quarter-finals): Tushar Shahani [1] bt Shloke Sahay [5/8] 11-8 11-6 11-4; Chaitanya Shah bt Anuj Unadkat [5/8] 11-8 11-9 11-2; Yash Fadte bt Raunak Advani 11-7 11-1 11-4; Rahul Baitha [2] bt Avinash Yadav [5/8] 11-6 11-5 11-7.

Girls U-19 (Quarter-finals): Amita Gondi [1] bt Sparshi Mattas [5/8] 11-8 11-1 11-5; Jannia Singh bt Abhilasha Bhasin [3/4] 11-2 11-2 11-2; Navmi Sharma [3/4] bt Bhavna Goyal [5/8] 11-7 11-0 11-3; Sanya Vats bt Radhika Rathore [2] 11-3 11-5 11-8.