Top seeds Tushar Shahani of Maharashtra and Ashita Pranaya Bhengra of Tamil Nadu marched into the boys' and girls' under-17 finals respectively in the Rs 6.5 lakh prize-money NSCI Indian Classic Junior Open Squash Championship today.
In the boys' semi-final encounter, Shahani had to bring out his best to get past a fighting Utkarsh Baheti of Rajasthan, the joint 3-4th seed, in four tough games at the NSCI glass-back courts here. Shahani won 11-9, 8-11, 11-8, 11-8.
The second semi-final, an all-Maharashtra affair, witnessed a grim battle for supremacy before Arman Jindal warded off a strong fight from unseeded Veer Chotrani to snatch a decisive 3-2 verdict in 50 minutes.
Arman won 11-6, 5-11, 12-14, 12-10, 11-6.
In the girls' under-17 last four match, Ashita was in complete control and charged to a straight games win against the joint 3-4th seed Navmi Sharma of Maharashtra. Ashita won 11-6, 11-5, 11-5 victory and will meet second seed Nikita Joshi of Maharashtra in the final.
Nikita prevailed over Telangana's joint 3-4th seed Amita Gondi in three long games winning at 11-9, 11-9, 11-9.
Hong Kong's top seed Tin Yan Lau and Sin Yuk Chan, both easily won their respective girls' under-15 semi-final ties to set up a summit clash.
Tin Yan defeated Maharashtra's 3-4th seed Ananya Dabke 11-8, 11-5, 11-8, while Sin Yuk overcame Avani Nagar also from Maharashtra 11-4, 11-7, 11-9.
In the boy's under-15 semi-finals Goa's top seed Yash Fadte tamed Tamil Nadu's 3-4th seed Navaneeth Prabhu 11-5, 11-2, 11-2, while Maharashtra 3-4 seed Advait Adik stunned statemate and second seed Neel Joshi 11-5, 11-7, 11-4.
Other semi-final results - Girls' U-11: 1-Kaavya Bansal (MH) bt 3/ 4-Skandha Dogra (MH) 11-5, 11-7, 11-4; 2-Advita Sharma (MH) bt 3/ 4-Diya Yadav (MH) 8-11, 11-5, 11-6, 11-8.
Girls' U-13: 1-Aishwarya Khubchandani (MH) bt Tanishka Jain (MH) 11-7, 11-5, 11-0; 2-Diksha Aurobindo (TN ) bt Sarah Vethekar (MH) 11-8, 11-7, 11-9.
Boys' U-11: 1-Yuvraj Wadhwani (MH) bt Rohan Arya Gondi (TL) 9-11, 7-11, 11-3, 11-3, 11-2; 2-Vivaan Shah (MH) bt Shaurya Bawa (DL) 6-11, 11-7, 11-4, 11-6.
Boys' U-13: 1-Aakash Gupta (MH) bt Mohit Bhatt (MH) 14-12, 11-7, 12-10; 3/ 4-Shreyas Mehta (MH) bt Raunak Singh (MH) 11-4, 11-7, 11-3.
