Manipal: The University of Madras walked away as winners of the All-India Inter-University Squash Championship (for women) with a facile 3-0 win over hosts Manipal Academy of Higher Education at Marena (the indoor sports complex of MAHE) on Friday, October 18 morning. Pandit Ravishankar Shukla (University of Raipur) finished third with a 3-1 win over Savitribai Phule (Pune University).
This is the fourth consecutive win for the strong team of players representing the University of Madras. Their team comprises an international squash player as well as members of the Squash Academy in Chennai. This is what makes them formidable and far more superior to the other teams in the competition.
MAHE, runners-up last year as well, found the going tough and only the third player (Sukrita) put up a semblance of a fight. She tried hard but her opponent Kritica JS, one of the players from the Academy, was a tough nut to crack. Despite that, Sukrita fought well in the first two games. But Kritica, with her superior game, provided the University of Madras with the championship.
In the first match, Ayan took a game off Shivani V and raised some hope for MAHE. After losing the first game at 4, Ayan came back strongly to win the second one 11-9. That did not ruffle Shivani who put University Madras one match up by winning the next two games comfortably at 11-4 and 11-4.
The second University of Madras player, Rathika S made short work of Muskaan who could not pull her game together. Rathika dropped four points in the first game and in the other two games, Muskaan failed to secure a point.
In the match for third and fourth placings, Pt Ravishankar Shukla (Raipur University) overcame a poor start to finish third. Savitribai’s Radhika Parab played a brilliant game to beat Priya Vishwakarma 11-1, 11-2 and 11-4. Their second player Priyanka Mantri did make an effort by winning the first game against Nidhi 11-7. But Priyanka lost the next game all too soon, at 3, and then tried to rally. It did not work out in her favour and Nidhi won four games.
The third player, Prerna Rajpoot had no problem beating Palrika Mohan and Nishita Tewari was stretched all the way to five games by a determined Shubhangini Pandey. Pro-Chancellor MAHE Dr. HS Ballal gave away the prizes.
Final Results:
University of Madras Beat Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal 3-0:
Shivani V beat Ayan 11-4, 9-11, 11-4, 11-4. Rathika S beat Muskaan 11-2, 11-0, 11-0. Kritica JS beat Surita 11-7, 11-5, 11-4.
Match for third and fourth places:
Pandit Ravishankar Shukla University, Raipur beat Savitribai Phule University 3-1:
RdhikaParab (Savitribai) beat Priya Vishwakarma11-1, 11-2, 11-4. Nidhi D (Pt Ravishankar) beat Priyanka Mantri 7-11, 11-3, 11-8, 12-10. Prerna Rajpoot (Pt Ravishankar) beat Palrikamohan 11-5, 11-4, 11-6. NishitaTewari (Pt. Ravishankar) beat Shubhangini Pandey 11-5, 6-11, 11-9, 6-11, 11-9.
