Tauranga (New Zealand): Indians experienced mixed luck on the opening day of the WSF World junior individual squash championship which got underway here on Wednesday.
Of the 12 boys and girls who had entered the field, three boys and as many girls remained in the draw at the end of two rounds of competition.
All the boys and three girls had a bye in the first round. The three who played the first round were Chennai girls Ashita Bhengra and Samita Sivakumar and both cleared that with a touch of confidence.. However the third girl, Sanya Vats fell to a US opponent even if after a brief fight.
However in the second round there was a mixture of good and bad. Adhitya Raghavan and Abhay Singh, both seeded 5/8 came through with ease as also Yash Fadte who downed a Pakistani opponent in four games. But Aryaman Adik, Tushar Shahani and Veer Chotrani made quiet exits. In the girls section, Akanksha Salunkhe (seeded 13/16), Sunayna Kuruvilla and Aishwarya Bhattacharya breezed through into the third round where Ashita and Samita failed.
The results:
Boys:IInd round: Adhitya Raghavan (5/8) bt Mathew Lucente (NZ) 11-9, 11-8, 11-5; Aryaman Adik lost to Ronald Palomino (Col) 6-11, 7-11, 3-11; Yash Fadte bt Abdul Malik Imran (Pak) 11-9, 8-11, 11-7, 11-7; Hafiz Zhafri (Mal) bt Tushar Shahani 11-3, 11-9, 11-8; Abbas Zeb (Pak) bt Veer Chotrani 11-8, 11-7, 11-5; Abhay Singh (5/8) bt Gabe Yam (NZ) 11-6, 11-6, 11-9
Girls : IInd round: Aishwarya Bhattacharya bt Hyoju Seo (Kor) 11-9, 9-11, 11-6, 11-4; Akanksha Salunkhe (13/16) bt Lauriene Maingot (Fra); 11-5, 11-2, 13-11; Ashita Bhengra lost to Hania El Hammamy (Egy) 2-11. 1-11, 3-11; Sunayna Kuruvilla bt Chloe Mourier (Fra) 11-5, 11-2,15-13; Samita Sivakumar lost to Zoe Foo Yuk Han (Mal) (9/12) 15-13, 4-11, 6-11, 6-11; (Ist round): Ashita Bhengra bt Emma Lundy (Irl)11-4, 11-5, 11-7; Samita Sivakumar bt Eva Nistler (Ger) 11-3, 11-5, 12-10; Sanya Vats lost to Elisabeth Ross (USA) 10-12, 13-15, 5-11.
