Squash: UP’s Yusha Nafees, Unnati Tripathi Emerge U-19 National Squash Champions

Squash: UP’s Yusha Nafees, Unnati Tripathi emerge U-19 National squash champions (UP’s Yusha Nafees, Unnati Tripathi emerge champions in Sub-Junior & Junior National Squash Championship in Jaipur, Rajasthan on Thursday. Photo credit: SRFI)

Junior National Squash Championship:  The Uttar Pradesh duo of Yusha Nafees and Unnati Tripathi won their maiden U-19 boys and girls crowns respectively, beating the top seeds on the concluding day of the Sub-Junior & Junior National Squash Championship in Jaipur on Thursday.

Second seed and last year’s runner-up Nafees beat Maharashtra’s Purav Rambhia in straight games, while 3/4 seed Unnati defeated last year’s runner-up Akanksha Gupta of Maharashtra in four games.

Meanwhile, Hridhaan Shah (MH) edged out Tamil Nadu’s Shiven Agarwal in a five-game thriller in the U-17 boys final.

Alia Kankaria (WB) and Inaya Andrabi (RJ) won the girls’ U-13 and girls’ U-11 crowns respectively, beating the top seeds in five games.

Earlier, Nafees (UP) and Akanksha Gupta (MH) advanced to their second straight U-19 boys and girls finals respectively in the Sub-Junior & Junior National Squash Championship on Wednesday.

Runner-up last year, second seed Nafees beat Rajasthan’s 5/8 seed Subhash Choudhary 18-16, 11-3, 11-1 in the semifinals and will meet top seed Purav Rambhia of Maharashtra for the title.

Meanwhile, top seed Akanksha beat state-mate Eesha Shrivastava 11-7, 11-8, 14-12 in the semifinals. In the final, she will take on Unnati Tripathi, who beat second seed and defending champion Anika Dubey in the other semifinal.

In boys’ U-17 semifinals, Maharashtra’s Hridhaan Shah stunned top seed and state-mate Shreyansh Jha, while Shiven Agarwal beat second seed and fellow Tamil Nadu player Lokesh Subramani.

Elsewhere, Karnataka’s Riyansika Verma defeated top seed Aadya Budhia in a five-game thriller in the girls’ U-17 semifinals, while Divyanshi Jain upset Tamil Nadu second seed Goushika M in the girls’ U-15 semifinals.

Results (all finals):

Boys' U-19: 2-Yusha Nafees (UP) bt 1-Purav Rambhia (MH) 11-9, 11-6, 11-6; U-17: 5/8-Hridhaan Shah (MH) bt 5/8-Shiven Agarwal (TN) 11-8, 8-11, 11-2, 9-11, 11-2; U-15: 1-Dhruv Johri (HR) bt Vedant Agarwal (JH) 11-6, 11-8, 11-4; U-13: 1-Aaron Arambhan (MH) bt 5/8-Aryan SK (KA) 11-1, 11-7, 12-10; U-11: 1-Agastya Uppal (DL) bt 3/4-Yuvaan Verma (RJ) 11-9, 6-11, 11-5, 11-6.

Results (all finals):

Article Source: IANS