Yuvraj Wadhwani beats Ravi Dixit at Indian Tour Squash tournament

Yuvraj Wadhwani caused an upset in the opening round of the men's event in the HCL-SRFI Indian Tour Chennai leg squash tournament here on Monday, beating the experienced Ravi Dixit (seeded 9/16)in four games.

The 15-year old Wadhwani, playing his maiden PSA event, got the better of his experienced opponent, who was nursing an ankle injury and was unable to keep the pace and went down in four games.

In the women's section, Indian Squash Academy trainee S Akshaya Sri defeated higher-ranked Radhika Rathore in a close match while Navya Gupta created an upset, beating Tiana Parasrampuria in five games.

The tournament is being conducted with a 24-player draw in both the men's and women's sections and features players from across the country. According to SRFI secretary-general Cyrus Poncha, keeping in mind players' safety, the tournament is being held in a complete bio-bubble environment by strictly following Covid-19 protocols.

"We are delighted to have squash activities in India once again. Domestic PSA events are an opportunity for Indian players to make their mark and, for a few, make their debut at PSA events," he added.

There are plans to conduct more events, with the next one scheduled to be held at SNU, Noida, from 4-7 September, he said.

Results: Women: Round 1: Shameena Riaz beat Saniya Jaggi 11-8, 7-2 retired; Akshaya Sri beat Radhika Rathore 7-11, 11-7, 11-5, 11-2; Aaradhana Kasturiraj beat Ananya Narayanan 11-9, 11-1, 11-3; Navya Gupta bt Tiana Parasrampuria 13-11, 4-11, 0-11, 13-11, 11-6; Anjali Semwal beat Skandha Dogra (11-8, 11-5, 11-9; Sunita Patel beat Aishwaria Payyan 11-0, 11-6, 11-8; Pooja Arthi R beat Mithali Surana 11-8, 11-8, 11-5.

Men: Round 1: Jaideep Sethi beat Ritshi Dunga 11-7, 11-7, 11-2; Tarun Mammen beat Raju Shingava 9-11, 11-9, 11-3, 11-1; Kanhav Nanavati beat Ranvijay Singh 9-11, 11-5, 11-8, 11-6; Jamal Sakib beat Naresh Shingva 11-3, 11-5, 11-2; Yuvraj Wadhwani beat Ravi Dixit 11-6, 8-11, 11-6, 11-2; Suraj Chand beat R Sreekarthikeyan 1-4, 11-7, 11-2; Mohit Bhatt beat Sumar Singh Ahluwalia 11-4, 11-6, 11-0; Navaneeth Prabhu beat Vaibhav Chauhan 11-5, 11-4, 11-3.