Mumbai, Sep 11 Mumbai’s Otters Club witnessed a dominant show from India’s Veer Chotrani and Tanvi Khanna as both stormed into the finals of the Squash Indian Tour 2, a PSA Challenger event, on Thursday.
Top seed Chotrani underlined his status as the favourite in the men’s draw, cruising past Hong Kong’s Ming Hong Tang 11-3, 11-6, 11-6 in just 23 minutes. The Indian never allowed his opponent a foothold, controlling the tempo with sharp lengths and quick movement. With this win, Chotrani sets up a title clash against fifth seed Chi Him Wong of Hong Kong, who has also looked in fine form throughout the tournament.
In the women’s section, sixth seed Tanvi Khanna advanced to the final in dramatic fashion. Facing her compatriot and second seed Akanksha Salunkhe in the semis, Tanvi benefitted from an unexpected retirement. Akanksha, who had taken the opening game 11-7 and was leading 5-4 in the second, was forced to pull out, paving the way for Tanvi to move ahead. For Tanvi, this will be a second successive final after finishing runner-up in the Jaipur leg of the HCL Squash Indian Tour last month. She will now take on Egyptian top seed Amina El Rihany for the crown.
The semifinal run for both players came on the back of strong quarterfinal performances. On Wednesday, Chotrani was made to work hard against Egypt’s Seif Shenawy after dropping the opening game. He bounced back impressively to win 9-11, 11-4, 11-9, 11-3 in 36 minutes and carried that momentum into his commanding semifinal victory.
In the women’s quarters, Akanksha had swept aside Egyptian eighth seed Lojayn Gohary 11-5, 11-5, 12-10 in 29 minutes, while Tanvi had battled past French third seed Enora Villard 11-4, 11-9, 11-9 in 27 minutes to set up the all-Indian semifinal clash.
Meanwhile, seventh seed Suraj Kumar Chand bowed out after a thrilling five-game battle against Hong Kong’s Shing Fung Lam. Chand twice led in the contest but eventually went down 6-11, 11-5, 3-11, 11-6, 11-6 in 51 minutes.
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