Mumbai:
Maharashtra’s Aishwarya Khubchandani and Goa’s Yash Fadte are set to win double crowns in the 76th CCI Western India Squash Championship.
In girls’ under-19 semi-final, Aishwarya defeated state mate Yoshna Singh in three closely contested games at 11-9, 12-10, 13-11 on Tuesday.
Aishwarya then brushed aside Yoshna’s challenge by scoring a hard-fought 11-8, 9-11, 5-11, 11-7, 11-8 win to seal her place in the women’s final.
In contrast, Yash quite comfortably won both his semi-finals.
A relaxed and confident Yash tamed Tamil Nadu’s joint 3/4-seed Navaneeth Prabhu S in straight games 11-6, 11-3, 11-5 in the under-19 match and later returned to the courts and sidelined another Tamil Nadu challenger Guhan Senthilkumar by coasting to a 11-4, 11-8, 11-3 win.
Meanwhile, in an interesting girls under-15 semi-final contest, Tamil Nadu’s joint 3/4-seed Shameena Riaz displayed tremendous fighting spirit to overcome second Aaryaa Belsare of Maharashtra, winning five gruelling games at 11-8, 11-7, 14-16, 6-11, 12-10.
In the women’s final, Aishwarya will clash with Maharashtra’s unseeded Samantha Chai who defeated Tamil Nadu’s Rathika Suthanthira Seelan in four games at 8-11, 11-7, 11-0, 11-8.
The men’s summit will see Yash take on seasoned campaigner and second seed Gaurav Nandrajog of Delhi, who defeated Tamil Nadu’s joint 3/4-seed Vikas Mehra by an easy 11-6, 11-5, 11-5 margin.
