Nandrajog romps into third round

Gaurav Nandrajog and Cyril Kuhn of Chennai faced the same opponent and eased into the men's and the boys' under-19 third rounds respectively, in the 31st HSBC-Bombay Gymkhana Maharashtra State Open Squash championships, in Mumbai, on Monday.

Nandrajog, a semi-finalist at the recently-concluded CCI-Western India Open, warmed up for sterner tests ahead when he crushed a hapless Angad Marwah of Maharashtra 9-0, 9-0, 9-1 in a second round tie.

Joining Nandrajog in the same category were fancied Jangra cousins, Vikas and Sandeep, who also scored convincing victories.

Kuhn also faced Marwah in the boys' under-19 second round and romped to an impressive 9-3, 9-2, 9-5 victory.

Maharashtra's Neville Tata continued his winning ways when he overcame compatriot Cyrus Sidhwa 10-8, 9-4, 9-4 to advance into the boys' under-17 third round.

Mumbai's top junior Vikram Malhotra, who bagged a double in the CCI-Western India Open, overcame a late challenge from Yash Shah for a 9-2, 9-2, 9-7 victory in the same category.

Results:

Men's Open (2nd round): Gaurav Nandrajog (Chennai) bt Angad Marwah (Mah) 9-0, 9-0, 9-1; Sandeep Jangra (Mah) bt Satish Potdar (Mah) 9-1, 9-0, 9-0; Ravneet Singh (Mah) bt Sanjay Pawar (Mah) 9-2, 9-1, 9-2; Vikas Jangra (Mah) bt Ajay Pawar (Mah) 9-0, 9-0, 9-0; Raja Parthasarathy (Mah) bt Rohit Kulshrestha (Mah) 9-1, 9-2, 9-2; Shakti Singh bt Gautam Das 9-2, 9-5, 9-0.

Boys' Under-19 (2nd round): Cyril Kuhn (Chennai) bt Angad Marwah (Mah) 9-3, 9-2, 9-5.

1st round: Vakar Pathan (Mah) bt Rohan Zaveri (Mah) 9-0, 9-3, 9-1; Amay Merchant (Mah) bt Praveen Saini (Jindal) 9-0, 9-0, 9-2.

Boys' Under-17 (2nd round): Vikram Malhotra (Mah) bt Yash Shah (Mah) 9-2, 9-2, 9-7; Jay Dalal (Mah) bt Adesh Bhansali (Mah) 9-0, 9-0, 9-0; Sachin Singh (Jindal) bt Deepak Dhakana (Jindal) 9-0, 9-1, 9-4; Riyad Seervai (Mah) bt Guddu Gupta (Jindal) 9-0, 9-0, 9-0; Neville Tata (Mah) bt Cyrus Sidhwa (Mah) 10-8, 9-4, 9-4; Javed Mohd (Jindal) bt Kunal Khaladkar (Mah) 9-4, 9-7, 9-5.

Under-9 (Quarter-finals): Rajat Agarwal (Mah) bt Ashish Gavankar (Mah) 9-0, 9-3, 9-1.

Professionals (3rd round): Vijay Waghela (Mah) bt Santosh Kharat (Mah) 9-6, 9-5, 7-9, 9-1; Gopichand Mohite (Mah) bt Uttam Patkar (Mah) 10-9, 9-1, 9-6.