Unseeded Veer Chotrani of Maharashtra shocked second-seeded state-mate Rahul Baitha 3-0 in a boys' under-17 pre-quarter-final round match in the Rs 6.5 lakh prize-money NSCI Indian Classic Junior Open Squash Championship here today.
Chotrani controlled the rallies and capitalised on the mistakes of Baitha to win 11-6 11-8 11-9 and move into the last eight of the tournament being held at the NSCI courts.
Top seed Tushar Shahani of Maharashtra defeated Abdur Rehman of Delhi 11-9 11-7 8-11 11-5 to book his place in the quarter-finals.
In the under 15 boys' group, Maharashtra's Deepak Mandal and Tanay Punjabi fought their way into the quarter-final round of the main draw.
Mandal quelled Delhi's Tejas Chawla 12-10 15-17 11-4 11-9 in 55 minutes, while Punjabi struggled his way past Diwakar Singh of Uttar Pradesh 11-7 11-5 8-11 8-11 12-10 in 35 minutes.
Another Maharashtra player Advait Adik, seeded 3/4, also advanced to the last eight by outclassing Karnataka's Tarun Mammen 11-5 11-7 11-5 in 18 minutes.
Other results: Boys U-15 (Pre-quarter-finals): 1-Yash Fadte (Goa) bt Nikhil Jason (TN) 11-7 11-3 11-5; Sankalp Anand (DL) bt Arman Darukhanawalla (MH) 11-4 11-7 11-0; 3/4- N Avaneeth Prabhu S (TN) bt Lakshit Bohra (RJ) 11-5 11-6 6-11 11-4; Shivamraaj Gulati (CH) bt Kanhav Nanavati (TN) 11-8 13-11 11-9; 2-Neel Joshi (MH) bt Shreemann Raghavan (TN) 11-8 13-11 11-1.
Boys U-17 (pre-quarter-finals): Rutvik Rau (MH) bt Avinash Yadav (MH) 11-8 11-6 11-6; Chaitanya Shah (MH) bt Shaan Dalal (MH) 11-3 11-5 11-3; Utkarsh Baheti (RJ) bt Armaan Chowfin (GA) 11-7 11-5 11-7; Arman Jindal (MH) bt Dev Vazirani (MH) 11-9 8-11 8-11 11-6 11-6; Aryan Parekh (MH) bt Ansh Punjabi (MH) 11-2 11-8 11-1; Gautam Nagpal (DL) bt Raunak Advani (MH) 12-10 11-7 12-10.
