Chennai: India is sending a 12-player team (boys and girls) for the WSF- World junior squash championship to be held in Tauranga city in New Zealand from July 19 to 29. The Indian team is leaving on Sunday.
The Championship this year will witness individual competition for boys and girls followed by the team event for girls only. At the last championship held in Bielska-Biala, Poland, Pakistan had won the boys’ title and Eain Yow Nq of Malaysia was the individual boys winner. The girls winner was Egypt’s Nouran Gohar. From India’s point of view, Velavan Senthilkumar’s quarterfinal finish was the highlight. He also helped India finish 6th overall in the team event. India’s best in the junior championship has been a third place finish by the girls in 2009 in Chennai.
This time the preparation for this mega event turned a little high end with SRFI deciding to send ten members of the side to Egypt for a two-week specialised training. Accordingly six boys _Abhay Singh, Aditya Raghavan, Aryaman Adik, Tushar Shahani, Veer Chotrani, Yash Fadte (all boys), Akanksha Salunkhe, Sunayna Kuruvilla, Aishwarya Bhattacharya and Ashita Pranaya Bhengra (all girls who play both team and individuals) were the benificiaries. “Truly enriching and intensive training,” formed the reaction from Abhay and Sunayna, the two leading figures in the team. Two other girls, Samita Shekar and Sanya Vats are also members of the Indian side to play only in the individual competitions.
A feature of this side, said National Coach Cyrus Poncha was that there were three players _ Tushar, Veer and Yash_ who were still U-17 players and showed the pluck and skill to get selected to the next higher-age category. “The significance is the reflection of the depth of talent and also the fact that these three players will still be around for the next edition of the Championship scheduled in Chennai next year,” said Poncha.
The officials who will be with the team are Coaches Achraf El Karargui, Deepak Mishra and Ms Surbhi Misra.
