Squash extravaganza at Bombay Gym

It will be a squash extravaganza at the Bombay Gymkhana from August 6 to August 15, when one of the cities premier venues for squash hosts the 43rd Maharashtra State Men’s Squash tournament and the 3rd Indian Classic Junior Open Squash Tournament, at their international standard glass-back squash courts.

Mumbai's Mahesh Mangaonkar, current Indian No.3 will be the top seed for the Rs 5.25 lakh prize money, Maharashtra State championship, which is one of the longestrunning squash tournaments in the country and will run from August 6 to 9.

The Junior event, which has been accorded the status of an Asian Squash Federation Gold tournament is a 5Star tournament on the Indian Junior squash circuit, will see participation from the best junior talent in the country from the age groups under-11 to under-19 and will runAugust 11 to 15, it was announced at a Press Conference on Friday.

Both the events will be organised under the aegis of SRFI and Maharashtra Squash Rackets Association.

The Championship Director, Sumeet Rewari informed media persons that over 500 entries have been received for the Indian Junior Open.

“The Indian Classic Junior Open is the largest International junior event to be conducted in India.

With a total of 513 entries this is one of the biggest International tournament in India in terms of participation and for the first time the event will be streamed live on SRFI website and Youtube,” said Rewari.

“The total prize money for this tournament is Rs 7 lakhs and there will equal prize money for both boys and girls winners,” he further added.

The Maharashtra State tournament will consist of competitions in Five different categories – Men's Open, Men’s Over 35, Men’s Over 45, Men’s Over 55 and Professionals. The top seed in the men’s event is the 24-year-old Mumbai lad Mahesh Mangaonkar, the current Indian No. 3, while Abhishek Pradhan who also hails from Mumbai is the second seed.