Higher ranked Ishaan Singh of Rajasthan and Aryan Parekh of Maharashtra crashed out of the 39th Bombay Gymkhana Maharashtra State Open Junior Squash Championship here today.
Third seed Singh squandered a 1-2 lead and went down to Jay Vaknalli of Maharashtra 11-7 10-12 9-11 14-12 11-8 in a closely fought boys under-11 quarter-final on a day of upsets.
Vaknalli, seeded in the fifth to eighth slot, stretched Singh all the way as he dropped the second and third games in close finishes and snatched the crucial fourth over extra points before narrowly winning a tight decider.
Likewise, Aryan Parekh, seeded in the fifth to eighth slot, squandered a 2-0 advantage before going down to lower ranked Veer Chotrani 2-3 in another engrossing boys' under-15 quarter-final.
Parekh, who won the first two games over extra points, lost the next two narrowly before Chotrani snatched the decider by a whisker at 11-9.
Ananya Dabke and Tanay Punjabi were the other seeds who made premature exits in the quarter-finals.
Girls' under-13 second seed Jannia Singh of Chandigarh, boys' under-17 top seed Abhay Singh of Tamil Nadu and boys' under-19 top seed Aishwarya Singh of Maharashtra registered hard-fought wins to enter the semi-finals.
Quarter final results: U-9 boys: 1-Vivaan Shah bt Shreyas Rao 11-2 11-3 11-3; Siddhanth Rewari bt Ayann Vaziralli 4-11 7-11 11-9 11-8 11-9; Aditya Chandani bt Aimaan Zakaria 11-7 11-5 11-9; 2-Yuvraj Wadhwani bt Meet Parikh 11-4 11-1 11-1.
Boys U-11: 1-Aakash Gupta bt Parth Ambani 11-4 4-11 11-8 11-3; Jay Vaknalli bt Ishaan Singh (Raj) 11-7 10-12 9-11 14-12 11-8; Jeh Pandole bt Sharan Punjabi 11-2 11-4 11-1; 2-Shreyas Mehta bt Aaryaman Jaising 11-7 11-8 11-1.
Girls U-11: 1-Aishwarya Khubchandani bt Saisha Gupta 11-4 11-0 11-4; Archita Singh bt Sonya Bajaj 4-11 11-9 11-7 11-6; Gigi Pandole bt Skandha Dogra 11-3 11-4 11-0; 2-Yuvna Gupta bt Saniya Jaggi 11-2 11-1 11-1.
