Pattaya (Thailand): It did not prove second time lucky for India as Pakistan carved out a 2-0 victory to win the boys’ title in the Asian junior team squash championship here on Sunday. It was by a 2-1 margin that Pakistan had beaten India in a Pool league match earlier.

As has been the pattern for India in this championship this time, the focus fell once again on Veer Chotrani who was to start the proceedings for India. The Indian did his best showed his fighting qualities to stretch the match but at the finish line, Hashmi edged him out to put Pakistan one up. Expectations of Utkarsh Baheti taking a leaf from Veer dimmed from the way Abbas Zeb seized early control of the exchanges. Leaving no chance for Utkarsh to manoeuvre, Zeb reeled away three straight games to bring Pakistan the victory.

The result: final: Boys: Pakistan beat India 2-0 (Abbas Zeb bt Utkarsh Baheti 11-4, 11-2, 11-6; Muhammad Farhan Hashmi bt Veer Chotrani 2-11, 11-9, 11-7, 5-11,11-9; Harish Qasim-Yash Fadte (withdrawn).

Pattaya (Thailand): Spurning close to five match points, Veer Chotrani lost a crucial match and helped Pakistan to clinch a 2-1 win over India in a Pool A boys’ encounter in the Asian junior team squash championship on Thursday. A win would have helped India book a knockout berth straightaway but now the boys will have to wait until the outcome of their match against the Koreans tomorrow.

But this was an opportunity that the boys’ almost seized with the great fight they put in. But things turned awry when the moment of joy was just a few points away. It was Utkarsh who set the ball rolling with a rollicking show in the opener against higher ranked Abbas Zeb. The Indian surprised his opponent with a 2-1 lead in game-score and was sitting pretty with 10-6 score in the fourth game. But their he got stuck and Zeb was too clever to let the chance go. Tushar Shahani came next and from 0-2 down in game score fought back splendidly to put it across Mohammad Farhan Hashmi in what a contest of consistency.

The whole tie now hinged on Veer for India and the young Mumbaite rose up to the occasion so it seemed as he won the first two games fighting all the way and then led 9-7 in the third. Haris Qasim looked all down when Veer presented him with some lose strokes. The Pakistani lad pounced on the offer and never looked back., Veer did have another match point in the fourth game but by now Qasim was on different plane, going for every ball and forcing mistakes on his opponent. The Indian fight virtually ended there and then. “A big disappointment”, said national coach Cyrus Poncha on the outcome when everything seemed going well for India.

Meanwhile the Indian girls had something to cheer later in the evening when they beat Singapore 2-1 and now is assured one of the top two places in Pool B and so a knock out berth.

The result:

Boys: Pool A: Pakistan bt India 2-1 ( Abbas Zeb bt Utkarsh Baheti 11-8, 8-11, 7-11, 11-6, 11-9; Haris Qasim bt Veer Chotrani 10-12, 6-11, 12-10, 12-10, 11-6; Mohammad Farhan Hashmi lost to Tushar Shahani 11-9, 11-8, 8-11, 10-12, 5-11) ; India bt Chinese Taipei 3-0 (Utkarsh Baheti bt Chen Wun-Lin 11-3, 11-5, 11-2; Veer Chotrani bt Chu Ching-Hsuan 11-1, 11-9, 11-3; Tushar Shahani bt Pan Shao-Yu 11-3, 11-2, 11-4)

Girls: India bt Singapore 2-1 (Sanya Vats lost to Sneha Sivakumar 12-10, 6-11, 4-11, 10-12; Yoshna Singh bt Keertana Veerayah 11-5, 11-4, 11-9; Amira Singh bt Paige Hill 8-11, 11-2, 11-8,11-7)

Edinburgh (Scotland): One of India’s top junior, Yoshna Singh made it a memorable year-end for herself by winning the U-17 title in the prestigious Scottish Junior Open squash here late on Sunday.

Seeded 5/8, this Maharashtra girl defeated Sze Yu Lee of Australia 11-6, 8-11, 11-4, 13-11 in an engrossing final. Yoshna had earlier beaten the top seed Lucie Stefanoni of USA in the quarterfinal to exhibit her good touch. In the semi-final she had gone past a Scottish girl Lucy Murchie in what turned out to be a tough five-game tussle where she came back from a game down.

New York: India’s top woman player Joshna Chinappa went down to the top seed Nour El Tayeb in the quarterfinal of the Carol Weymuller Open, a PSA event here on Saturday. The Egyptian won 11-4, 4-11, 11-3, 11-2, the match lasting just a minute past the half hour.

Seeded eight, Joshna had begun well but after taking the second game to level the game scores she found all routes to further progress stopped by her famed opponent. Joshna had a 1-2 head-to-head score over Nour but that could not be levelled off because the Egyptian was far too superior in her control over the ball. While the Indian was quick to pounce on opportunities, Nour was adept in keeping her rival at bay most times with her shrewd angle of returns.

Philadelphia: Top ranked Indian, Saurav Ghosal’s tenure ended in the US Open 2018, a PSA world tour platinum event, in the third round on Tuesday.

Pitted against the top seed and highly rated Egyptian Mohamed Elshorbagy, the Indian did put up some resistance but in the end that did not help. The Egyptian won 11-5, 16-14, 11-9 to enter the quarterfinal.

The other Indian in the fray, Joshna Chinappa, the 16^th seed in the women’s section awaits herthird round match against eighth seeded Sarah Jane Perry, later tonight.

Philadelphia: Indian stars Saurav Ghosal and Joshna Chinappa have moved into round three in the prestigious US Open 2018, a PSA world tour platinum event being held here. However Dipika Pallikal Karthik fell in the second round, losing to Egyptian third seed Nour El Tayeb in stright games 11-6, 11-5, 11-9.

Where Saurav and Joshna began their campaign from round two, Dipika had an earlier start. She was stretched to five games by a Canadian Danielle Letourneau before winning 11-6, 11-13, 11-6, 9-11, 11-4. Joshna, who is seeded 16, also had a tough match in her opener against Julianne Courtice of England. Joshna won 6-11, 11-9, 8-11, 12-10,11-3. In comparison Saurav had a smoother ride in the men’s section. The Indian beat Tom Richards of England 11-4, 11-8, 11-3 to meet the top seed Mohamed Elshorbagy of Egypt next.

Houston: India’s Vikram Malhotra is on fire. The US- based player, who had only last week won a PSA Challenger event in Canada, added one more to his kitty with the triumph in the Texas Open, a PSA challenger here on Sunday. He beat Daniel Mekbeb of Czeck Republic over five games 11-6, 2-11, 5-11, 15-13, 11-1. This is Vikram’s 8^th PSA title overall in his career thus far.

The fourth seeded Indian, who moved ahead after a first-round bye, got past three players enroute to the final. His second round victim was Syed Hamzad Bukhari of Pakistan, followed by Reuben Phillips of England in the quarterfinals and another Pakistani Shahjahan Khan, the 8^th seed in the semi-final 11-6, 9-11, 11-5, 11-6.

Incidentally the top seed in this event was Ramit Tandon but he conceded his match in the quarter final to Shahjahan Khan, Vikram’s sem-final victim.