Top Seeds Abhishek Pradhan and Tushar Shahani overpowered their opponents to reach the Semi-Final round of the Men’s & U-19 Boys category of the Otters Club Open Squash Tournament 2018 Co-Sponsored by Rustomjee & Deutsche Bank to be played at the Otters Club squash courts on Tuesday.
Abhishek Pradhan outsmarted the talented Aishwary Singh who has beaten some of the top players in the tournament. Abhishek did not face much resistance from Aishwary beating him 11-8, 11-6,11-5 to reach the semis. In another match, Vijay Kumar came close to beating the second seed Abhishek Agarwal but Vijay choked at crucial moments and succumbed to a 9-11, 9-11, 7-11 defeat.
In the U-19 quarterfinals, India No.1 and top seed Tushar Shahani defeated the unseeded Sankalp Anand. It was not a smooth sailing for Tushar as Sankalp matched move for move in the first game forcing a tiebreaker, Tushar had to work hard to get things under control and win the first game 15-13. In the second game, Tushar overpowered Sankalp beating him 11-7. However, Sankalp stepped up in the third game and repeated his first game performance keeping his composure to take the game 14-12 in a tiebreaker. Tushar did not wish to take the game to the wire and finished off the game by 11-3 winning the match by 15-13, 11-7, 12-14, 11-3. .
In another game, Third seed Veer Chotrani beat the second seed Rahul Baitha in a four-game thriller. Veer Started with positive intent and outsmarted Rahul in the first two games beating him 11-7, 11-7. The second seed bounced back and took control of the third game beating him by 11-4. Rahul looked out of sorts in the match and his inconsistency led him to an 8-11 defeat in the final game helping Veer win the match by 11-7,11-7,4- 11, 11-8. Veer will be up against the top seed Tushar Shahani in the Semis.
In another upset, Jaideep Singh Sethi outlasted the higher ranked Avinash Yadav in an epic 5 game match beating him 11-9, 11-7, 9-11, 5-11, 11-9 in a closely contested quarterfinal match.
Results Men’s Quarter-Finals
Abhishek Pradhan [1] bt Aishwary Singh [9/16] 11-8,11-6,11-5; Ranjit Singh [3/4] bt Kunj Rawani [9/16] 4-11, 11-6, 11-5, 11-7; Velavan Senthilkumar [3/4] bt Jamal Sakib [5/8]11-9, 11-2, 11-4; Abhishek Agarwal [2] bt Vijay Kumar [5/8] 11-9, 11-9, 11-7.
Results Boys U-19 Quarter Finals
Tushar Shahani [1] bt Sankalp Anand 15-13,11-7,12-14,11-3; Veer Chotrani [3] bt Rahul Baitha [2] 11-7,11-7,4-11,11-8; Suraj Chand [9/16] bt Vivaan Jaikishan [3/4] 11-4,11-7,11-9; Jaideep Singh Sethi [9/16] bt Avinash Yadav [5/8]11-9,11-7, 9-11, 5-11, 11-9.