Mumbai: After their dominating performance against Lightning Strokes, Hexa Squash put up an all-round performance to defeat Royal Strikers 11-7 in the final of the second Platinum Corp Super Squash Jr League, organised by Sportastic and Sportscast under the aegis of SRFI & Maharashtra Squash Racquets Association, and played at the JVPG Club, Juhu. In the final, to be decided on the first team to win 11 games, Arin Khot started the match on a positive note for Hexa Squash winning 11-5, 4-11, 11-5 to give his team a 2-1 lead. In the girls under-17 tie, Anannya Morey could not put up a fight against Aishwarya Khubchandani, who won the tie in straight games at 11-6, 11-5, 11-9 to gain three points for Royal Strikers, leading the game 4-2. Strikers gained confidence from Aishwarya’s win and Parth Ambani put up a brilliant performance, keeping his calm to win 11-9, 11-9, 6-11 to extend their lead to 6-3, threatening to run away with the game.
However, Adish Kancharia and Tanish Vaidhya turned the tide for Hexa Squash, winning their respective ties in straight games against Dev Sharma and Kavya Anand to race to a 9-6 lead. In the final tie, Kavanpal Kohli of Royal Strikers started the game strong, securing an 11-9 victory in the first game but Hriday Rajani bounced back and played an aggressive game to win the second and third match 11-8, 11-6 to win the match and secure the title for Hexa. In a third-place match, Lightning Strokes got the better of Phantom Stars by an 11-5 margin.
Result
Hexa Squash bt Royal Strikers (11-7) Arin Khot bt Mihit Mahale 11-5,4-11,11-5; Anannya Morey lost to Aishwarya Khubchandani 6-11, 5-11, 9-11; Jay Vaknali lost to Parth Ambani 9-11,9-11,11-6; Adish Kancharia bt Dev Sharma 11-8, 11-8, 11-5; Tanish Vaidhya bt Kavya Anand 11-6, 11-8, 11-8; Hridhay Rajani bt Kavanpal Kohli 9-11, 11-8, 11-6. Third place: Lightning Strokes bt Phantom Stars (11-5)
Dhairya Shah lost to Soham Mehta 7-11,11-6,6-11; Ayaan Vaziralli bt Priyaan Thakker 11-4,11-9,10-11; Shreyas Mehta bt Rutva Samant 11-10, 9-11,11-4; Siddharth Bhandari bt Dhruv Khanna 11-7, 11-4,11-4; Sunita Patel bt Aryaa Ogale 9-11,11-5,11-9; Ishaan Dabke bt Arjun Morey 11-8.