Squash Tourney Aishwary stretches Sandeep Jangra

Second seed Sandeep Jangra of Indian Air Force, Delhi escaped to a thrilling 8-11, 11-9, 11-9, 9-11, 13-11 win over unseeded Aishwary Singh of Jindal to storm into the men’s open semi-finals, in the JVPG-SYSKA Open Squash Tournament, at the Juhu Vile Parle Gymkhana on Sunday. Jangra, a recent runner-up at the Otters Open, endured a gruelling encounter that went down to the wire and lasted an hour. In a contest that could have gone either way, Jangra, who began his career at Jindal, began on an ominus note when he dropped a tight opening game. He went up 2-1 but not before Aishwary threatened to snatch the advantage. A determined Aishwary kept his hopes alive when he forced the decider after winning the crucial fourth game in a tight finish and set the stage for a humdinger. It was a nail-biting fifth and final game and ended in a dramatic finish over extra points. Jangra set up the semi-final clash with former Asian team gold and India under-19 world championship bronze winner Abhishek Pradhan, while Otters Open and Maharashtra State Open winner and top seed Aditya Jagtap will take on Rahul Baitha in the other semi-final. Saara Joukani won the other thriller of the day when she beat Prini Jain 5-11, 12-10, 6-11, 11-9, 11-8 to enter the girls under-13 semi-finals. Unseeded Adityavardhan Singh Shekhawat entered the boys under-17 semi-finals and second seed Anuj Unadkat made it to the boys under-23 semis following close wins.