Junior Squash

[kathiresan_v]

At last some reports on indian newspaers, I think...

Rediff article

Kathir

[PKBasu]

Congratulations to Saurav Ghoshal. What a magnificent achievement. (And to think that I actually knew this fellow when he was a little kid in shorts running around in the parking lot of the building my parents live in makes it doubly nice!).
And congratulations to Joshna Chinappa too. Amazing that we have suddenly emerged as a squash power...
These are some of the side-effects of economic success, although the credit goes primarily to the individuals themselves (Ritwik, Saurav, Joshna).

[suresh]

Yes, now that there is a (brief) hiatus in cricket, the Hindu finally reported on the
Junior British Open. PKB, there is nothing amazing about the success in squash:
it is the hard work put in at the Chennai academy and full credit should go to the
people who are associated with it as well as the players themselves.

There was a report on NDTV which highlighted the plight of the hockey players
who were in Hyderabad/Secunderabad for the Inter Divisional Railway Hockey
championship. Some railway compartments in the Secunderabad railway station
functions as their "hotel" and no transportation is provided to the venue in Hyderabad -- the players take autos to play their matches. The officials have been
put up in the restrooms that are available in the railway station.

There is no surprise that the only way we can win medals in the Olympics is when
truly special individuals rise above this muck that passes off as Indian sport.

[BSharma]

Suresh, although we are digressing from the subject of squash in this forum you do bring up an important point of how we treat our players. A little over 30 years back I went to Delhi to play in a national tournament and two teams of four players each shared a guest room in a college hostel. The sofas had been removed and we slept on the floor for about a week. We were received at the train station but after that we had to find an autorickshaw to travel on our own and fend for the meals ourselves. It is sad that the players are still treated the same after thirty years!

In USA I have coached sports teams and academic teams. In junior level team sports the coaches and players and their parents know in advance that lodging and eating are the responsibility of the team and arrangements are made in advance. Academic teams (MATHCOUNTS, debate, Academic Bowl) often get better treatment at State and National levels - free lodging often and some free meals.

The difference between India and USA is not the money factor - it is knowing in advance about the accomodation and food.

[BSharma]

See the report about the British Junior Open at SquashTalk - a website that seems to know about the sport.

Here is a sample of what the report said about Saurav Ghosal. Read the entire report.

"Ghosal, a small fast-footed 17-year-old from Calcutta, has won only local junior events until now, but has been training with Cyrus Poncha on the new championship courts at Chennai over the past year. He hits the ball with ferocious technically based power and speed for such a slight character and tonight quickly established himself as the dominant force on the court against an opponent of considerably more height and width."

India's Ghosal breaks Egyptians, Pakisanis Stranglehold over Medal Podium by Colin McQuilllan for SquashTalk, Jan 6, 2004

Congratulations Ghosal and Coach Cyrus!

[Dhruv]

Warpspeed has added a bunch of photographs in the squash section. Go and have a look.

[kathiresan_v]

Thanks warpspeed...

Kathir

[warpspeed]

Nice article in the Times Of India

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/arti ... 416943.cms

[david]

Dipika Pallikal won the Australian Open junior tournament for U-13

[BSharma]

Thanks David.

Congratulations Dipika Pallikal.

[PKBasu]

Squash is clearly another sport in which India has built a terrific pipeline of junior players. These are really spectacular achievements in a country with no squash players ever ranked in the top 100 until a few years ago. If Jyotsna, Sourav, Siddharth, Dipika, etc. live up to the potential they have shown as juniors, India could become a world-class squash-playing nation within the next decade.
We "arrived" as a chess-playing nation 10-15 years ago, as a dominant billiards power about 40 years ago, and now are showing similar potential with squash. Definite positive signs of coming of age as a sporting nation...

[jayakris]

Yes, these are heartening results .. When you start seeing u15 success with some regularity, it means we are making some serious strides.. CVongratulations Dipika .. (Pallikkal sounds like a Kerala place/family name -- is she from there?)

Jay

[BSharma]

Jay,

First some good news - Dipika Pallikal has also won the German Junior Open and Belgium Junior Open in the past two years.

Now for the bad news ( ) - she lists Chennai as her birth place and residence. (her family could still be from Kerala)

She loves Chicken Biryani & Mango Juice (looks like someone from Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh to me )

Dipika Pallikal

[kathiresan_v]

Results from Penang International Junior Championship 2004 (8th – 11th June 2004), Bukit Dumbar, Penang

BOYS UNDER 17 :
3rd/4th: Elvinn Keo (Pg) beat Harinderpal Singh (Ind) 9-4,9-5,5-9,9-6

BOYS UNDER 15 :
Final:Kamran Khan beat Vikram Malhotra (Ind) 9-6, 10-9, rtd.

BOYS UNDER 13 :
Final:Aditya Jagtap (Ind) beat Rahul D’Cunha (Ind) 9-6,7-9,10-8,9-4

BOYS UNDER 11 :
Final: Mahesh Mangankar (Ind) beat Tarun Nambiar (Ind)) 4-9,10-8,8-10,9-7,10-8
3rd/4th: Abhishek Pradhan (Ind) beat T. Devamuthan (Sel) 9-4,9-0,9-0

GIRLS UNDER 11 :
Final: Airin Abd. Rahman(Mel) beat Sachika Balvani (Ind) 10-9,9-3,7-9,9-3
3rd/4th:Ankita Sharma (Ind) beat Saumya Kharki (Ind) 10-9,9-6,9-3

SEMI - FINAL :

BOYS UNDER 17
Harinderpal Singh (Ind) lost to Randy Lim (Pg) 9-7, 2-9, 4-9, 9-6, 7-9

BOYS UNDER 15
Vikram Malhotra (Ind) beat Terence Lim (Pg) 9-3,6-9,9-2,9-1

BOYS UNDER 11
Mahesh Mangaonkar (Ind) beat Devamuthan T. (Sel) 9-0,9-1,9-1
Tarun Nambiar (Ind) beat Abhishek Pradhan (Ind) 9-3,9-5,6-9,5-9,10-8

GIRLS UNDER 11
Sachika Balvani (Ind) beat Ankita Sharma (Ind) 6-9,9-5,5-9,9-2,9-5
Saumya Kharki (Ind) lost to Airin Abd. Rahman (Mel) 1-9, 1-9, 1-9

BOYS UNDER 13 :
Aditya Jagtap (Ind) beat Muhd. Yassin (Pg) 9-4,9-0,9-0

QUARTER-FINAL

BOYS UNDER 11:
Mahesh Mangaonkar (Ind) beat Ryan Pasqual (Pg) 9-0,9-0,9-0
Tarun Nambiar (Ind) beat Ryosei Kobayashi (Jpn) 9-2,9-1,9-3
Abhishek Pradhan (Ind) beat Aditya Khatri (Ind) 9-3,9-2,9-1

BOYS UNDER 15 :
Vikram Malhotra (Ind) beat Gunraj Singh (Ind) 9-6,9-7,9-3
Ishan Patol Balvani(Ind) lost to Terence Lim (Pg) 3-9, 5-9, 9-4, 1-9

GIRLS UNDER 11
Sachika Balvani (Ind) beat Mithila T. (Sel) 9-1,9-0,9-1
Ankita Sharma (Ind) beat Shria Khatri (Ind) 9-0,9-5,9-6
Saumya Kharki (Ind) beat B.Aparajitha (Ind) 8-10,10-9,9-4,7-9,9-2

Kathir

[BSharma]

2005 British Junior Open - Girls results

Girls Under 19:
First round:
Joshna Chinappa (seeded #2) bye

Second round:
Joshna Chinappa def. Alexandra Clark 9-6, 9-0, 9-5

Third round:
def. 9/16* Lina Tannir 9-1, 9-7, 4-9, 9-1

Quarter-final:
def. 5/8* Petra Hughes 9-4, 9-0, 9-5

Semi-final:
def. 3/4* Sara Tarek Badr 8-10, 9-6, 4-9, 9-7, 9-0 (nice come back victory)

Final:
def. Tenille Swartz (had beaten the top seed in semifinal) 9-1, 5-9, 9-7, 10-8

Girls Under 15:
First round:
5/8* Dipika Pallikal bye
9/16* Anwesha Reddy bye

Second round:
Dipika Pallikal def. Natasha Townley 9-1, 9-0, 9-0
Anwesha Reddy def. Rebecca Palmer 9-0, 9-3, 9-2

Third round:
Dipika Pallikal def. Macy Coltman 9-0, 7-0 (retired)
Anwesha Reddy lost to 5/8* Victoria Bell 10-9, 8-10, 4-9, 9-6, 3-9

Quarter-final:
Dipika Pallikal lost to seed #1 Wee Wern Low 5=9, 5-9 4-9

Girls under 13:
First round:
5/8* Sachika Balvani def Francesca Ritchie 9-3, 9-1, 9-1
Harita Om Prakash lost to 9/16* Abou El Dahab 8-10, 5-9, 0-9

Second round:
Sachika Balvani def 9/16* Katie Simpson 6-9, 9-7, 7-9, 10-8, 9-7 (nice come back win)

Quarter-final:
Sachika Balvani lost to 3/4* Abdel Megid 3-9, 2-9, 1-9

Congratulations to Joshna.