5th ICL Chennai Open: Qualif

The qualifying round commenced for the 5th ICL Chennai Open a US$ 6,000 PSA event being held at the ICL Squash Academy in Chennai. The event is held from 12-16 July 2007.The star attraction will be local boy and World # 42 Saurav Ghosal who has been given the top seeding. Four juniora who returned from Kuala Lumpur last night had an opportunity to qualify for the event. Ravi Dixit and Ramit Tandon defeated Paramit Singh and Karan Malik respectively to qualify for the main draw. The Sujat Barua played a tight and consistent game to upset Shakti Singh. B. Balamurugan got a bye into the main draw.

Ravi Dixit bt Paramit Singh 8-11, 11-6, 16-14, 11-5; Ramit Tandon bt Karan Malik 11-8, 11-8, 11-4; Sujat Barua bt Shakti Singh 11-6, 7-11, 11-5, 12-10; B. Balamurugan – bye

Anaka & Ravi win Penang Junior Squash

ICL Academy trainees Anaka Alankamony (Girls u13) and Ravi Dixit (Boys u17) returned victorious from the Penang International Junior Squash Championships held from 6-10 June. Anaka was the only Indian double winner of the Penang Open as well as the Malaysian Junior Open (31 May – 4 June).

Anaka once again defeated county mate Saumya Karki in the final, 9-1, 1-9, 9-5, 10-9 proving that these two are the leading players on the Asian circuit in their age group. Anaka and Saumya won their semi finals in straight games defeating Malaysians, Yong Sue Ann and Celin Yeap respectively.

Ravi Dixit defeated Ng Jo Wen, winner of the Malaysian Junior Open, in the final of the Penang Junior in close four games 9-7, 9-2, 8-10, 10-8. Ravi kept the pressure from the start using his drops to great effect. In the semi final, Ravi turned the tables on South African Stephano Gras 9-4, 9-6, 9-0. At the Malaysian Open Ravi had lost to Stephano in 5 set thriller.

This is Ravi’s 1st international title in the boys u17 category, he had previously won the Scottish Junior Open in Dec 2006 in the u15 category.

Other Indian’s making the top 4 were Anwesha Reddy (Girls u17) , Ramit Tandon (Boys u15) – runner up, Dheeya Somaiya (Girls u15),  Pankhuri Malhotra (Girls u11), Akshay Deepak (Boys u15) 4th position. These achivements were fitting end to a month long Malaysian tour arranged between the Squash Rackets Federation of India and Squash Rackets Association of Malaysia. The boys and girls have benefited immensely from the 2 week stint sparing and training with the Malaysian juniors.