Krish Kapur of West Bengal succumbed to the smart play of Uttar Pradesh's Ranjit Singh in the under-17 boys semifinals of the Indian Junior Open squash here today.
Some of the drops and boasts Kapur employed would have made an established pro proud. Ranjit seemed in a hurry to finish points off but the taller and fitter Krish showed his retrieving abilities late.
Once Krish got into groove, with deft shots to the corner and often getting the ball to trickle onto the court, Ranjit began to lose ground.
With the players trading two games each, the decider proved a thriller and the early start helped Ranjit to effect the winning touch. The final scoreline read 11-6, 11-7, 5-11, 5-11, 11-7.
Other results: semi-finals: Boys: U-11: Ameeshenraj Chandran (MAL) bt Aakash Gupta (Mah) 11-7, 12-10, 6-11, 11-9; Ishaan Singh (Raj) bt Ekam Singh (Chand) 5-11, 11-9, 11-5, 12-10; (U-13): S. Navaneeth Prabhu (Tn) bt Neel Joshi (Mh) 12-10, 10-12, 11-8, 9-11, 11-9; Yash Fadte (Goa) bt Advait Adik (Mah) 11-6, 11-1, 11-5; (U-15): Jesse Kok Sheng Foo (MAL) bt Dev Vazirani (Mah) 6-11, 11-3, 11-5, 5-11, 11-8; Mohd Hafiz Zhafri Abdul Harif (MAL) bt Tushar Shahani (Mah) 11-9, 3-11, 9-11, 12-10, 11-9; (U-17): Velavan Senthilkumar (Tn) bt Robin Mann (Del) 7-11, 11-6, 11-7, 11-2.
Girls: U-11: Nur Waffah Khairul Tajuddin (MAL) bt Sujitra Kunasekran (MAL) 11-4, 11-9, 11-8; Sehveetra Kumar (MAL) bt Aishwarya Khubchandani (Mah) 11-4, 11-2, 11-3; (U-13): Aifa Azman (MAL) bt Avani Nagar (Mah) 11-5, 11-1, 11-3; Samita Sivakumar (Tn) bt Megha Bhati (Mah) 11-5, 11-6, 11-7; (U-15): Amita Gondi (Ap) bt Sneha Sivakumar (SING) 11-6, 11-4, 8-11, 9-11, 11-9; Nikita Joshi (Mah) bt Aakanksha Rao (Mah) 11-0, 11-8, 11-5; (U-17): Akansha Salunke (Goa) bt Lui Hiu Lam (HKG)
11-4, 11-7, 2-11, 11-5; (U-19): Lakshya Ragavendran (Tn) bt Mayuri Namasivayam (Tn) 11-5, 11-8, 11-6; Aika Azman (MAL) bt Anandita Gupta (Mp) 11-4, 11-9, 14-12.
