Asian Individual C'ship 2023: Velavan Senthilkumar beats second-seed to advance into semi-finals

India's Velavan Senthilkumar defeated Hong Kong's Tsz Kwan Lau 3-0 in the quarter-finals of the ongoing Asian Squash Individual Championship 2023 on Thursday in Hong Kong. With this win, Senthilkumar advanced to the semi-finals as the lone Indian standing, vying for the title.

Velavan made quick work of his opponent Tsz, who also was the second seed of the tournament, in the quarters as he picked up consecutive games in just 31 minutes. The final score read 11-9, 11-7, 11-8 in favour of Senthilkumar.

Leading up to this match, Senthilkumar didn't concede a single game, thereby clinching 3-0 wins against 1st round opponent Reymark Begornia of Philippines and 2nd round opponent Syafiq Kamal of Malaysia.

Four other men's players in the draw from India included Sandeep Jangra, Veer Chotrani, Ravindu Laksiri, and Rahul Baitha. Out of them, Veer and Rahul went till the second round before getting ousted, as Sandeep reached the semifinals of the 17-32 classification matches.

In the women's category, three players in Tanvi Khanna, Anahat Singh, and Akanksha Salunkhe were present in the draw. All of them were able to reach the second round of the tournament, but couldn't go further.

If Velavan advances into the finals, he'll only be the second Indian men's player to do so at the Asian Individual Championship. Prior to him, veteran Saurav Ghosal had finished runners-up in the 2017 edition in India, before becoming champion in the 2019 edition in Malaysia.

Senthilkumar is set to face Malaysia's Ivan Chee Wern Yuen in the semi-finals on Friday, June 9, at 3:30pm IST.