Om Semwal saved a match point to pull off a thrilling 8-11, 7-11, 15-13, 11-8, 11-9 victory over Diwakar Singh in the men’s pre-quarterfinals of the HCL 81st National squash championship at the Dhyan Chand National Stadium on Monday. In the quarterfinals, Om will meet Veer Chotrani.
While the seeded players had to be sharp straightaway, the qualifiers, some of whom had endured many matches, were not in the best physical shape to counter the guile and experience of the top players.
Aryan Pratap Singh pulled off an impressive 4-11, 11-7, 14-16, 11-7, 11-4 victory over the seeded K.S. Arihant to set up a quarterfinal against defending champion and top seed Abhay Singh.
Second seed Velavan Senthilkumar, Yash Fadte, Suraj Chand and Ramit Tandon were the others to make the last-four stage.
In the women’s section, top seed and defending champion Anahat Singh made light of the challenge from Khushboo, and also her leg injury sustained recently in Australia, to set up a quarterfinal against Pooja Arthi, who downed Urwashi Joshi in four games.
Tanvi Khanna who had to negotiate two rounds in the qualifying event, continued with her fluent game to set up a quarterfinal against Sanya Vats.
Joshana Chinappa, with a record number of National titles, apart from her impressive international achievements, dropped a game to Tanishka Jain.
Unnati Tripathi, Shameena Riaz and second seed Akanksha Salunke were the others to progress to the round-of-eight.
Akanksha did meet a worthy opponent in Yuvna Gupta, a student of Stanford University, who fought in every game despite losing in three.
The results: Pre-quarterfinals: Men: Abhay Singh bt Yusha Nafees 11-5, 11-3, 11-7; Aryan Pratap Singh bt K.S. Arihant 4-11, 11-7, 14-16, 11-7, 11-4; Suraj Chand bt Tavneet Singh Mundra 11-5, 11-7, 11-2; Ramit Tandon bt Ansh Tripathi 11-4, 11-4, 11-6; Veer Chotrani bt P.R. Sandhesh 11-5, 11-9, 11-6; Om Semwal bt Diwakar Singh 8-11, 7-11, 15-13, 11-8, 11-9; Yash Fadte bt Rahul Baitha 11-7, 7-11, 11-3, 6-3 (retired); Velavan Senthilkumar bt Shaurya Bawa 11-2, 11-1, 11-6.
Women: Anahat Singh bt Khushboo 11-2, 11-3, 11-4; Pooja Arthi bt Urwashi Joshi 11-9, 2-11, 12-10, 11-3; Tanvi Khanna bt Janet Vidhi 11-3, 11-4, 11-1; Sanya Vats bt Navya Sundararajan 11-4, 11-3, 0-2 (retired); Unnati Tripathi bt Anjali Semwal 11-5, 11-4, 11-7; Joshana Chinappa bt Tanishka Jain 11-5, 9-11, 11-6, 11-4; Shameena Riaz bt Sunita Patel 11-5, 11-5, 11-7; Akanksha Salunkhe bt Yuvna Gupta 11-9, 11-8, 11-8.
Published – August 25, 2025 07:21 pm IST
