Tanvi, Suraj bow out in semis of Squash PSA Challenger Tour in Kolkata

Kolkata, Aug 13 (IANS) Women’s top seed Tanvi Khanna and men’s fourth seed Suraj Kumar Chand bowed out in the semifinals of the HCL Squash PSA Challenger Tour event in Kolkata on Thursday.

Tanvi went down to Egyptian third seed Sohayla Hazem 11-6, 2-11, 7-11, 7-11, while Chand lost to Mohamed Gohar, the Egyptian top seed, winning 11-8, 11-2, 11-7.

Earlier, Chand, who won the World University Championships singles crown recently, beat eighth-seed compatriot Om Semwal in four games to reach the semifinals. He overcame Egypt’s Hassan Menshawy in a 73-minute-long five-game thriller, 11-4, 8-11, 11-2, 9-11, 11-8 in the pre-quarterfinals.

Earlier on Tuesday, Suraj Chand overcame Egypt’s Hassan Menshawy in a 73-minute-long five-game thriller, 11-4, 8-11, 11-2, 9-11, 11-8 in the men’s pre-quarterfinals.

In another engrossing five-game contest, Sandhesh Palanivel Ravikumar rallied from 2-0 down to beat sixth seed Ayaan Vaziralli 6-11, 10-12, 11-5, 11-6, 11-7 and advance to the men’s quarters.

In the women’s section, top seed Tanvi Khanna moved to the quarters with a straight-games win over Vasundhara Nangare. She then defeated sixth-seed compatriot Nirupama Dubey in straight games in the quarterfinals before falling to third seed Egyptian Sohayla in the semifinals.

In Friday’s all-Egypt finals, Sohayla will take on second seed Menna Walid for the women’s title, while Gohar will meet third seed Seif Refaay for the men’s crown.

The event has a prize fund of USD 9,000 for the men’s section, while in the women’s section, the prize money is USD 9,000. The HCL Squash PSA Challenger Tour has so far organised events in Indore, Mumbai, and Chennai, and is now in Kolkata in its India leg. The HCL Squash PSA Challenger Tour is the second rung of the Professional Squash Association (PSA) Tour with events spread all over major countries.

–IANS

bc/bsk/