Indore, Nov 21 (IANS) India’s top women’s squash player Anahat Singh will take on veteran Joshna Chinappa in an all-Indian women’s final of the Daly College SRFI Indian Open, a PSA event, in Indore on Saturday.
In the semifinals on Friday, Delhi teenager and top seed Anahat edged out Irish third seed Hannah Craig 11-4, 10-12, 9-11, 11-6, 11-4, while unseeded veteran Joshna rallied to beat Egyptian second seed Nadien Elhammamy 7-11, 11-5, 11-7, 11-7 in the other semifinal of the event being jointly organised by Squash Racquets Federation of India (SRFI).
In the men’s final, top seed Youssef Soliman of Egypt defeated Yannick Wilhelmi of Switzerland 3-1 (11-6, 8-11, 11-5, 11-2 while third seed Mohamad Zakaria defeated Yahya Elnasasany 3-0 (11-4, 11-6, 15-13) in the other semifinal.
Late on Thursday night, reigning men’s National champion Velavan Senthilkumar lost in the quarterfinals to third seed Mohamad Zakaria, the Egyptian winning 11-7, 11-7, 11-6.
Anahat, a medallist in the Asian and Commonwealth Games, and Joshna, a former two-time World Doubles Championships gold medallist, had moved into the women’s semifinals with commanding victories. Top seed Anahat breezed past German eighth seed Katerina Tycova 11-5, 11-1, 11-4, while Joshna brushed aside Spanish seventh seed Sofia Mateos 11-4, 11-6, 11-3 in the quarterfinals.
Seventh seed Ramit Tandon lost a close five-game quarterfinal to men’s top seed Youssef Soliman, the Egyptian winning 11-5, 9-11, 3-11, 11-3, 11-5.
Earlier, in the women’s section, Anahat, Joshna, and Tanvi Khanna booked quarterfinal berths in the event. Anahat defeated Pooja Arthi Raghu 11-2, 11-3, 11-2 in the pre-quarterfinal. Joshna Chinappa stunned the fourth-seeded Lauren Baltayan of France 6-11, 11-6, 11-7, 11-2 after losing the first game. Tanvi Khanna got the better of compatriot Unnati Tripathi 11-1, 11-8, 11-4 in the Professional Squash Association (PSA) bronze event, which has a $73,500 prize fund in the men’s competition and $15,000 for the women’s event.
–IANS
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