Abhay Singh, Joshna Chinappa advance in national tournament

Top-seeded players- Abhay Singh and Joshna Chinappa- posted contrasting wins in the round of 16 of the men's and women's singles events respectively in the 78th HCL SRFI National Squash championship here on Wednesday.

While Abhay Singh quelled a mid-match fightback from Naveen Jangra of SSCB before winning 11-8, 11-2, 8-11, 11-4, Chinappa, a 18-time national champion, brushed aside the challenge of Rajasthan's Yashi Jain 11-3, 11-6, 11-6.

In an upset result, Veer Chotrani of Maharashtra defeated Kanhav Nanavati (TN), the 3-4 seed in straight games.

Results (round of 16):

Men:

• Abhay Singh (X1) beat Naveen Jangra (SSCB) 11-8, 11-2, 8-11, 11-4
• Suraj Chand beat Vikas Mehra 11-9, 10-12, 7-11, 11-4, 11-8
• Sandeep Jangra (X5/8) beat Vaibhav Chauhan, 11-3 ,11-2, 11-7
• Vijay Kumar beat Rahul Baitha 11-6, 13-11, 11-3.
• Veer Chotrani beat Kanhav Nanavati (3/4) 11-8, 11-5, 11-5
• Velavan Senthilkumar beat Ranjit Singh (SSCB) 11-8, 11-5, 11-3
• Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu (TN) beat Jamal Sakib (SSCB) 11-2, 11-8, 12-10
• Navaneeth Prabhu (TN) beat Ravi Dixit (Haryana) 10-12, 11-7, 11-8, 9-11, 11-4.

Women:

• Joshana Chinappa beat Yashi Jain 11-3, 11-6, 11-6
• Anjali Semwal beat Subhadra Nair (Kerala) 11-2, 11-2, 11-3
• Akanksha Salunkhe (5/8) beat Rathika Suthanthira Seelan 11-4, 11-4, 11-5
• Janet Vidhi beat Shameena Riaz 11-3, 4-11, 11-6, 13-11
• Urwashi Joshi (3/4) beat Pooja Arthi R 11-5, 11-8, 11-7.
• Tanishka Jain beat Sanika Choudhari, 9-11, 4-11, 11-1, 11-7, 11-5
• Tanvi Khanna beat Sunita Patel (5/8) 11-3, 13-11, 11-2
• Anahat Singh beat Sushmita Panigrahi (Goa) 11-2, 11-2, 11-0.