Asian Junior Individual Squash: India assured of eight medals in China
Chennai, May 22
India were assured of eight medals at the 33rd Asian Junior Individual Squash Championships in Panzhihua, China, on Friday after Shiven Agarwal led a spirited bunch into the semifinals across categories.
Shiven, seeded 5/8, beat Singaporean Rehaan Singh in straight games in the boys' U-17 quarterfinals and will meet fellow Indian Squash Academy trainee Lokesh Subramani in the semifinals. Lokesh, meanwhile, defeated compatriot Hridhaan Shah in the quarters.
Aryaveer Dewan, who won the boys' U-17 crown last year, advanced to the U-19 semifinals after beating countryman Yusha Nafees in four close games.
Others to make the last-four stage were: Anika Dubey in girls' U-17, Abhyuday Arora and Amarya Bajaj in boys' U-13, and Shanaya Parasrampuria and Divyanshi Jain in girls' U-13.
Earlier, India's Hridhaan Shah took out Malaysian top seed Muhammad Haiqal Hazim Bin Syarudin 11-13, 11-5, 11-4, 11-7 in the boys' U-17 pre-quarterfinals.
Joining Hridhaan in the boys' U-17 quarterfinals are compatriots Lokesh Subramani and Shiven Agarwal, with Hridhaan meeting Lokesh next. Aryaveer Dewan, Gurveer Singh, and Yusha Nafees advanced to the quarterfinals in the boys' U-19 category.
Other Indians to make the last-eight stage across categories are: Abhyuday Arora, Dhairya Gogia, and Amarya Bajaj in boys' U-13, Alia Kankaria, Shanaya Parasrampuria, and Divyanshi Jain in girls' U-13, Shresht Iyer and Dhruv Bopana in boys' U-15, Aadya Budhia in girls' U-15, Anika Dubey in girls' U-17, and Unnati Tripathi in girls' U-19.
Indian results (quarterfinals):
U-19 - Boys: 3/4-Aryaveer Dewan bt Yusha Nafees 11-9, 12-10, 3-11, 11-9; 3/4-Md Alnasfan (KSA) bt Gurveer Singh 11-6, 9-11, 11-7, 11-3. Girls: Whitney Wilson (Mas) bt Unnati Tripathi 9-11, 11-7, 11-5, 11-3.
U-17 - Boys: 5/8-Lokesh Subramani bt Hridhaan Shah 11-9, 11-8, 4-11, 11-6; 5/8-Shiven Agarwal bt Rehaan Singh (Sgp) 11-7, 11-6, 11-6. Girls: 3/4-Anika Dubey bt Naisha Singh (Sgp) 11-7, 11-7, 11-4.
U-15 - Boys: Md Sohail Adnan (Pak) bt 2-Shresht Iyer 11-6, 6-11, 11-5, 11-6; 3/4-Vidhurran Ruthiran (Mas) bt 5/8-Dhruv Bopana 12-10, 11-7, 9-11, 6-11, 11-5. Girls: Makaela Lin Cassidy (HK) bt Aadya Budhia 11-8, 12-10, 12-10.
U-13 - Boys: 3/4-Abhyuday Arora bt Md Mustafa Khan (Pak) 14-16, 11-9, 9-11, 11-3, 11-4; 3/4-Amarya Bajaj bt Dhairya Gogia 11-9, 11-9, 11-4. Girls: 1-Kareena Sashikumar (Sgp) bt 5/8-Alia Kankaria 11-2, 11-8, 11-7; 3/4-Shanaya Parasrampuria bt Qingyuan Zheng (Chn) 11-9, 11-9, 8-11, 11-9; 2-Divyanshi Jain bt Nurul Nazir (Mas) 13-11, 11-8, 11-6.
— IANS
Reader Comments
So proud of the girls too – Anika, Shanaya, Divyanshi in the semis! Squash is really growing in India, especially with the academies in Chennai and other places. Reminds me of how Dipika Pallikal put us on the map. Great future ahead for these kids. 💪
Impressive depth across all age groups – U-13, U-15, U-17, U-19. But we need to convert these semifinal spots into gold medals. Aryaveer winning U-17 last year and now in U-19 semis shows progression. Hope our players can handle the pressure in the semis. Good luck to all! 🤞
Great to see so many Indian names in the results! But I noticed some of our top seeds lost in U-15 and U-19 girls categories. We need to work on consistency at the higher levels. Still, eight medals is a solid achievement for Indian squash. Keep it up, kids! 🇮🇳
This is excellent news for Indian squash! The fact that we have players in semis across all boys categories shows the strength of our grassroots programs. Shiven vs Lokesh in U-17 semis will be an exciting all-Indian affair. Let's hope they bring home maximum gold! 🥇
So happy to see young talents like Abhyuday and Amarya in U-13 semis! But we need more government support for sports like squash – it's not as mainstream as cricket or badminton. These kids deserve
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