Nandrajog powers into quarters

Gaurav Nandrajog was a cut above the rest as he cruised into the men’s singles’ quarterfinals in the 5Sports Century Bangalore Club Open squash tournament here on Sunday.

Gaurav, 34, showed no signs of slowing down as he demolished Puminder Kumar 11-5, 11-3, 11-4 in the last 16 game, doing justice to his top-billing in the tournament.

The Delhiite raced to a 7-3 lead but Puminder fought back and cut the deficit to 7-4. It, however, made little difference as Gaurav then claimed three points on the trot to comfortably secure the first game.

The top seed produced a masterful show in the second game. Causing plenty of problems to Puminder with his movements and backhand smashes, Gaurav never allowed the 25-year-old to settle before claiming the honours.

Looking to wrap up the match quickly, the players decided against taking a break and started the third game immediately. However, there was no change in the outcome as Gaurav marched forward without much trouble.

Earlier in the day, Gaurav had defeated Tamil Nadu’s Cholarajan Nagaraj 11-4, 11-4, 11-4 in the third round while Puminder progressed after Virendra Pawar of Maharashtra pulled out due to an injury during the third game of the match. The Himachal lad was in command, with scores reading 11-9, 11-9, 7-1.

In the girls’ under-15 singles, Karnataka’s Skandha Dogra progressed after a crushing 11-1, 11-6, 11-3 win over Riddhi M Chawla of Tamil Nadu.

In the pre-quarterfinals, Skandha will face Maharashtra’s Saniya Jaggi, who eased past Ananya Xavier of Karnataka 11-1, 11-1, 11-0.

Chandigarh’s Ekam Singh, seeded first, powered to the quarterfinals in the boys’ under-15 singles, after a solid 11-2, 11-3, 11-3 win over Rajasthan’s Dravya Jain.

Ekam has set up a clash with Aarav Gill of Punjab, who advanced after eking out a gritty 8-11, 11-3, 8-11, 11-8, 11-6 win over Ashvin Ganesh of Tamil Nadu in another last-16 tie.

Important results (prefix denotes seeding): Men’s singles: Last-16: 1-Gaurav Nandrajog (DL) bt 9/16- Puminder Kumar (HP) 11-5, 11-3, 11-4; 9/16-Rahul Baitha (MH) bt 17/32-Yashwir Singh Hooda (CH) 11-5, 11-6, 11-3; 17/32-Araash Mehta (MH) bt Prithvi Aditya (KA) 11-5, 11-9, 11-8; 5/8-Awdesh Yadav (SR) bt 9/16-Shankaran Parthiban (TN) 13-11, 11-4, 11-7.

Boys: U-17: R-16: 1-Didar J J Rebello (HR) bt Kanishk Kedia (KA) 11-0, 11-2, 11-3; Aaryaman Jaising (MH) bt Nakshtra Sharma (RJ) 11-2, 11-6, 11-5.

U-15: R-16: 1-Ekam Singh (CH) bt 9/16-Dravya Jain (RJ) 11-2, 11-3, 11-3; 5/8-Aarav Gill (PB) bt 9/16-Ashvin Ganesh (TN) 8-11, 11-3, 8-11, 11-8, 11-6; Mohamed Farhan Farook (TN) bt Umar Farook Farhan (TN) 11-7, 11-7, 11-9.

U-13: R-16: 1-Arihant KS (TN) bt 9/16-Teerth Jilka (MH) 11-5, 11-4, 11-2; 2-Ayaan Vaziralli (MH) bt 9/16-Arihant Chordia (TN) 11-2, 11-4, 11-5.

U-11: R-16: 1-Darshil Parasrampuria (TN) bt Lokesh S (TN) 11-5, 11-8, 11-7; 2-Rahul Sanjay Balakrishnan (KA) bt 17/32-Gowtham M (TN) 11-3, 11-3, 11-6.

Girls: U-15: R-32: 9/16-Skandha Dogra (KA) bt Riddhi M Chawla (TN) 11-1, 11-6, 11-3; 5/8-Saniya Jaggi (MH) bt Ananya Xavier (KA) 11-1, 11-1, 11-0.

U-13: R-32: Zehra Ladak (KA) bt Ankita Xavier (KA) 11-5, 11-5, 11-0; Sara Vats (KA) bt Jeya Shree (TN) 11-6, 11-3, 11-7.

U-11: R-32: Rhea Roshan (KA) bt Poojashrini MU (TN) 4-11, 11-4, 11-7, 11-4; Shristi Thakur (KA) bt Sri Varshini Shanmuganathan (TN) 11-2, 11-6, 11-1.