Vijay Kumar, left, takes out Rahul Baitha in back-to-back games at the 78th National squash championship in Chennai on Wednesday. | Photo Credit: M. Vedhan
Vijay Kumar of Services dispatched (3/4 seed) seed Rahul Baitha of Maharashtra with 11-6, 13-11, 11-3 in the men’s first round of the HCL-78th Senior National squash championships here on Wednesday.
Playing a tournament after more than two-and-a-half years, the 26-year-old appeared hungry and made the most of Rahul’s weakness in the frontcourt.
The other seed to bow out was Sanika Choudhari (5/8) of Delhi, who lost to Tanishka Jain of Maharashtra 11-9, 11-4, 1-11, 7-11, 5-11 in the women’s first round.
The results (round of 16, first round): Men: Abhay Singh (TN) bt Naveen Jangra (SSCB) 11-8, 11-2, 8-11, 11-4; Suraj Chand (Mah) bt Vikas Mehra (TN) 11-9, 10-12, 7-11, 11-4, 11-8; Sandeep Jangra (SSCB) bt Vaibhav Chauhan (SSCB) 11-3, 11-2, 11-7; Vijay Kumar (SSCB) bt Rahul Baitha (Mah) 11-6, 13-11, 11-3; Veer Chotrani (Mah) bt Kanhav Nanavati (TN) 11-8, 11-5, 11-5; S. Velavan (TN) bt Ranjit Singh (SSCB) 11-8, 11-5, 11-3; Harinderpal Singh (TN) bt Jamal Sakib (SSCB) 11-2, 11-8, 12-10; Navaneeth Prabhu (TN) bt Ravi Dixit (Har) 10-12, 11-7, 11-8, 9-11, 11-4.
Woman: Joshna Chinappa (TN) bt Yashi Jain (Raj) 11-3, 11-6, 11-6; Anjali Semwal (Mah) bt Subhadra Nair (Ker) 11-2, 11-2, 11-3; Akansha Salunkhe (Goa) bt Rathika Seelan (TN) 11-4, 11-4, 11-5; Janet Vidhi (Mah) bt Shameena Riaz (TN) 11-3, 4-11, 11-6, 13-11; Urwashi Joshi (Mah) bt R. Pooja Arthi (TN) 11-5, 11-8, 11-7; Tanishka Jain (Mah) bt Sanika Choudhari (Del) 9-11, 4-11, 11-1, 11-7; 11-5; Tanvi Khanna (Del) bt Sunita Patel (Mah) 11-3, 13-11, 11-2; Anahat Singh (Del) bt Sushmita Panigrahi (Goa) 11-2, 11-2, 11-0.
