Chennai's Kush Kumar and Lakshya Ragavendran showed their mettle in great measure to retain the U-19 section's respective titles in contrasting styles on the final day of the Indian Junior Open at the Indian Squash Academy here today.
Top seeded Kumar was classy with his touch, which had made him the first Indian male player to reach the quarterfinal in the recently-held World Junior Championship in Namibia.
But Lakshya had to dig deep into her reserves to ensure victory. While Kumar disposed off promising Ranvijay Singh Ranvijay Singh 11-9 11-9 11-6, Lakshya managed to get the better of Malaysian Aika Azman in the five-game final 11-8 6-11 11-6 6-11 11-9.
In the under 17 final, Velavan Senthilkumar had the measure of Ranjit Singh and in the girl section, Akanksha Salunkhe scored an impressive win over Hong Kong's Cheng Nga Ching.
The results (final):
Boys U-19: Kush Kumar (Tn) bt Ranvijay Singh (Tn) 11-9, 11-9, 11-6; U-17: Velavan Senthilkumar (Tn) bt Ranjit Singh (Up) 11-4, 11-9, 11-4; U-15: Jesse Kok Sheng Foo (MAL) bt Mohd Hafiz Zhafri Abdul Harif (MAL) 11-7, 11-3, 11-2; U-13: Yash Fadte (Goa) bt S. Navaneeth Prabhu (Tn) 13-11, 11-8, 11-6; U-11: Jeh Pando ve (Mah) bt Ameeshenraj Chandran (MAL) 8-11, 11-3, 11-4, 11-7.
Girls U-19: Lakshya Ragavendran (Tn) bt Aika Azman (MAL) 11-8, 6-11, 11-6, 6-11, 11-9; U-17: Akanksha Salunkhe (Goa) bt Cheng Nga Ching (HKG) 11-9, 7-11, 11-8, 7-11, 12-10; U-15: Nikita Joshi (Mah) bt Amita Gondi (Ap) 11-8, 11-9, 7-11, 12-10; U-13: Aifa Azman (MAL) bt Samita Sivakumar (Tn) 11-5, 11-6, 11-3; U-11: Sehveetrra Kumar (MAL) bt Nur Waffah Khairul Tajudin (MAL) 11-5, 11-4, 11-4.
