An ‘A’ class performance

MUMBAI: What a difference a day can make to the fortunes of a team. Tamil Nadu, the defending champions, who had only a day before given a superlative performance in the semi-finals against Services, failed to repeat their performance in the final. Maharashtra ‘A’ delivered when it mattered most and won the Senior Inter-State squash championships at the Otters Club in Bandra on Wednesday.

The hosts put Tamil Nadu on the backfoot from the first match. Supreet Singh streamrolled over under-17 Maharashtra Open champion Harinder Pal Singh 9-2 9-4 9-7 to give Maharashtra ‘A’ the lead. The Chandigarh-born, Chennai-based Harinder, who had shocked Vikas Jangra of Services on Tuesday, was totally off-colour.

However, A Parthiban, the under-19 champion, leveled the proceedings for Tamil Nadu in the next match with a comprehensive 3-0 (9-7 9-3 9-4) win over Sandeep Jangra.
The third match witnessed Tamil Nadu winning their only set of the final. Manek Mathur came back from a second set slump to edge past Cyril Kuhn 3-1 (9-5 2-9 9-2 9-2) and give the home side a 2-1 lead. Rishad Pandole sealed the title with a hard fought 9-5 10-8 9-7 victory over Parth Sharma. In what was probably the best match of the evening, Rishad allowed Parth to come back in all the three games after establishing big leads early on. Parth played well but couldn’t fully capitalise on Rishad’s frailties.