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Mr N. Ramachandran is TNOA President
Patron of the Squash Rackets Federation of India, Mr N. Ramachandran was unanimously elected President of the Tamil Nadu Olympic Association (TNOA) for a four-year term (2017-22) in the elections held recently in Chennai. Mr Ramachandran, who is also the President of the Indian Olympic Association, speaking to the media later, chose the occasion to shed light on the possibility of India bidding for the 2032 Olympics. “The Government has agreed to this in principle,”he said. He also indicated the possibility of the State building an Olympic Bhavan during his term.
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Mahesh falls in quarters (ILT-Community Trust NZ southern Open, 14-18 June)
Finalist a week ago in another event in New Zealand, India's Mahesh Mangaonkar went down fighting to the top seed Ivan Yuen of Malaysia in the quarterfinal of the ILY-Community Trust NZ southern Open. The Malaysian, ranked over 35 rungs above the sixth seeded Indian won but only just at 14-12, 11-6, 6-11, 9-11, 11-9. In March this year,when the two had last met, Mahesh had beaten Ivan over a five game thriller in the Wimbledon Club Open in England in a match that went 107 minutes. The essence of the contest was seen again this time but a few crucial points eluded him and Ivan edged past to emerge the winner finally. Mahesh had in the first round earlier got past Qualifier Chris Van der Salm of New Zealand 11-7, 11-2, 11-6 to reveal a good touch.
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A trials that proved a revelation
Chennai and hence the Indian Squash Academy was the venue for the trials to give shape to the Indian side for the ensuing Asian and World junior championships. The idea was also to raise a pool of the best available talent with a future in perspective. Considering the optimism expressed over the depth of talent in the lower age group other than U-19, there was much interest around players in the U-17, U-15 and U-13 age group (boys and girls). The net result was a revelation that heartened the National Coach Cyrus Poncha and the Consultant Coach from Egypt, Achraf El Karargui. “There is a handful of juniors here who are world class,” was the refrain of these two keen observers. “If they are guided and nurtured well, these young players are sure to bring wonderful results in the coming years and a few podium finishes also in key international events,” Poncha said. As it happened, five U-17 boys and seven girls (four U-17 and three U-15) joined the U-19 players for the trials. Expectedly there were surprises. Except for the two U-19 familiar faces in boys, Abhay Singh and Aditya Raghavan who showed their prowess in no uncertain way, the rest of the places were taken by the U-17 force which included Tushar Shahani, Yash Fadte and Veer Chotrani for the Asian Juniors in Jordan. Aryaman Adik just missed out but he still remains in the scheme of things. In the girls section, Sunayna Kuruvilla, Ashita Bhengra, Aishwarya Bhattacharya, Akanksha Salunkhe made the cut while Sanya Vats and S. Samita also join them to complete the entries for the world championships later. Plans to send the juniors to Egypt for training is another initiative of the Federation to prop up India's preparedness.
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Vikram loses in quarters (Costa Rica Open, San Jose, 29 May- 3 June)
India's Vikram Malhotra, the fifth seed, went down fighting to third seeded Pakistani Farhan Zaman in the quarterfinals of this PSA world tour event. This the Indian's first loss to Farhan in three meetings. Here Malhotra was restricted to winning just the first game. Farhan showed better touch and slowly but surely grabbed the initiative to script a 8-11, 13-11, 11-7, 11-6 win. Earlier Vikram, who was seeded fifth, entered the quarterfinal after a comfortable 11-3, 11-7, 11-8 win over Qualifier David Bailargeon of Canada.
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Mahesh loses in final (NZ International Classic, Palmerston North, 6-11 June)
India's Mahesh Mangaonkar came close to annexing his sixth PSA title but in the crucial final, Scotland player Greg Lobban dashed his hopes. Expectations ran high for on head-to-head count Mahesh had a 2-1 record. But in 42 minutes, Lobban settled the argument with a 11-8, 15-13, 11-6 win. A quarterfinalist in the Welsh Open held last month, Mahesh,the fourth seed, had done well when he got past Malaysia's top junior and current world junior champion Eain Yow Ng in four games 17-11, 11-4, 11-4, 11-5 in the semi-final. Eain had earlier accounted for the top seed Peter Creed of Wales in the quarterfinal. Mahesh's previous PSA title win was last year in the Sekisui Open in Switzerland. The progress this time was just as promising with a fluent 11-5, 11-6, 11-6 win over Joe Green of England in the first round. Beating Malaysian Mohd Syafiq Kamal next 11-4, 9-11, 11-4, 11-4 gave him the passage to the last four.
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Harinder Sandhu makes good jump in rankings
Joshna Chinappa remained on rank 14, Dipika Pallikal Karthik on 22 and Saurav Ghosal on 28 in the June list released by PSA. However, Vikram Malhotra dropped two rungs to 64 but Harinder Pal Sandhu's good performances in recent times brought him a 11 place rise to 78, one rung above Mahesh Mangaonkar.
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