Quito (Ecuador), July 29 (IANS) The Indian team had a good start at the world junior men’s squash championships with four players progressing into the top 32 stage Wednesday.
The contingent comprising Aditya Jagtap, Ravi Dixit, Ramit Tandon, Karan Malik, Abhishek Pradhan, Mahesh Mangaonkar and coach Cyrus Poncha arrived a week prior to the championships for acclimatisation. This has been beneficial as it is the first time the Indian boys are playing at an altitude of 9,000 feet above sea level.
The quartet of Jagtap, Tandon, Dixit and Malik advanced to the round of 32 without too much trouble. Dixit survived a small hiccup but pulled through to join Jagtap and Tandon who notched up straight game victories.
The notable achievement was Malik who defeated higher ranked Tom de Mulder from Belgium in four games. Malik was fitter and more consistent than his opponent.
Mangaonkar went down to England’s top seed Charles Sharpes in keenly contested four games while Pradhan lost to a fast moving Ricardo from Mexico in straight games.
Results (India’s matches):
Round 1: Aditya Jagtap bye; Ramit Tandon bye; Ravi Dixit bye; Abhishek Pradhan bt Jake Davison (Aus) 11-5, 11-5, 11-2; Karan Malik bt Juan Camilo Vargas (Col) 11-8, 7-11, 11-7, 11-5; Mahesh Mangaonkar bt Luis Flores Muyshondt (Gua) 11-4, 11-7, 11-3.
Round 2: Aditya Jagtap bt Jeong Dae Hoon (Kor) 11-4, 11-4, 11-1; Ramit Tandon bt Tamataka Endo (Jap) 11-1, 11-3, 11-7; Ravi Dixit bt Alfonso Marroquin (Col) 11-9, 11-5, 1-11, 11-5; Karan Malik bt Tom de Mulder (Bel) 6-11, 11-9, 11-1, 11-5; Abhishek Pradhan lost to Ricardo Lopez Valdivia (Mex) 9-11, 7-11, 6-11; Mahesh Mangaonkar lost to Charles Sharpes (Eng) 10-12, 11-9, 7-11, 1-11.
