Rayhan Walia of Maharashtra exhibited strong fighting qualities to recover from the loss of the opening two games and put it across Vikas Chand of Delhi 3-2 in a boys under-15 first round match of the Rs 6 lakh prize-money NSCI Junior Open Squash tournament today.
In a keenly contested tussle, Rayhan made multiple errors initially and paid the penalty as he conceded a 0-2 to his Delhi rival.
But, thereafter he applied himself much better, cut down on his mistakes and just kept it tight to win the next three games and wrap up the match at 9-11, 8-11, 11-4, 11-0, 11-7.
In another engrossing battle, Tamil Nadu's Roshan Rajkumar prevailed over Maharashtra's Krish Shah in five long drawn games.
Roshan and Krish shared the first four games before the more experienced Tamil Nadu lad took total control in the decider which he won to complete a hard-earned 14-12, 6-11, 11-9, 7-11, 11-5 victory.
Joining Roshan in the second round were his compatriots, R Kishore Arvind and Nikhil Jason. While Arvind had an easy outing defeating Rohan Padhye of Maharashtra 13-11, 11-7, 11-5, Nikhil encounter quite a stiff challenge from Haryana's Didar JJ Rebello before going on to score a 16-14, 11-5, 12-10 win.
