Third seed Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu upset second seed and India number two Mahesh Mangaonkar to set up a mouth-watering men's title clash with top seed Saurav Ghosal in the 62nd Senior National Squash Championship here today.
After Ghosal halted Ravi Dixit with a 11-7, 11-7, 12-14, 11-8 win in a tight semi-final, Sandhu dominated the second semi-final with a 11-4, 11-4, 11-7 win in a 40-minute contest that had its fair share of exciting moments.
Meanwhile, Joshana Chinappa halted junior national under-17 runner-up Aakanksha Salunkhe of Goa with a 3-0 win to move a step closer to clinching her 13th National Women's crown.
Second seed Sachika Ingale of Uttar Pradesh beat third seed Urwashi Joshi of Maharashtra 3-1 in the other semi-final.
Parthiban Iyyappan of Tamil Nadu will be eyeing his sixth professional title in a row when he takes on second seed Paramjit Singh of Delhi in the championship round.
Results: Senior National: Men (Semi-finals):
1-Saurav Ghosal (TN) bt Ravi Dixit (TN) 11-7, 11-7, 12-14, 11-8; Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu (TN) bt 2-Mahesh Mangaonkar (Mah) 11-4, 11-4, 11-7.
Women (Semi-finals): 1-Joshana Chinappa (TN) bt Akanksha Salunkhe (Goa) 11-4, 11-5, 11-6; 2-Sachika Ingale (UP) bt 3-Urwashi Joshi (Mah) 4-11, 11-8, 11-8, 11-6.
Professional (Semi-finals): 1-Parthiban Iyyappan (TN) bt Sanjay Pawar (Mah) 11-5, 11-6, 11-4; 2-Paramit Singh (Del) bt B Balamurugan (TN) 11-4, 11-4, 11-8.
