Top seed Suchde survives Pandole scare in SPA Classic squash meet

Mumbai, Aug 10 (UNI) Top seed Siddharth Suchde survived a brief scare before entering the Men's Open semi-finals, in the inaugural Patel Retail-SPA Classic Squash Championship, at the Otters Club, Bandra here today.

India No 2 Suchde, who surprisingly dropped the third game, quickly ignored the blemish to race to an 11-3, 11-4, 9-11, 11-4 win over the hard working Rishad Pandole.

Earlier, in the pre-quarter-finals, Pandole rallied to a thrilling 12-10, 2-11, 11-7, 7-11, 12-10 win over braveheart Amjad Khan of Delhi. Pandole twice squandered leads before escaping to victory over extra points in a nail-biting decider.

Men's sixth seed Parthiban Aiyappan of Chennai made a premature exit against Navy's Vikas Jangra who won a tight pre-quarter final 11-7, 11-9, 17-15 that included a marathon third game.

Second seed Gaurav Nandrajog also struggled past Sandeep Jangra 12-10, 11-9, 11-6 in another quarter-final. The formidable Nandrajog encountered early resistance as he won the first game over extra points and narrowly clinched the second.

Third seed Harinderpal Singh of Chennai set up a mouth-watering semi-final clash with Nandrajog after overcoming Vikas Jangra 11-6, 11-9, 11-5 in the last quarter-final.

Unseeded Sachin Jadhav made a surprise entry into the Professionals semi-finals following a convincing 11-8, 11-4, 11-8 win over Vijay Jangra of Rajasthan.

In contrast, the top three seeds lived up to their reputations as top seed B. Balamurugan of Chennai, second seed Sanjay Pawar and No 3 Rohit More booked their semi-final berths.

Results: Men: QF: Siddharth Suchde bt Rishad Pandole 11-3, 11-4, 9-11, 11-4; Parth Sharma (Chennai) bt Naresh Kumar (Chennai) 11-5, 11-7, 11-9; Gaurav Nandrajog bt Sandeep Jangra 12-10, 11-9, 11-6; Harinderpal Singh (Chennai) bt Vikas Jangra 11-6, 11-9, 11-5.

PQF: Sandeep Jangra bt Supreet Singh 11-9, 6-11, 11-4, 10-12, 11-8; Gaurav Nandrajog bt Lt. Sandeep Singh (Services) 11-3, 11-2, 11-3; Harinderpal Singh (Chennai) bt Dhiraj Nagpal 12-10, 11-8, 11-3; Vikas Jangra (Navy) bt Parthiban Aiyappan (Chennai)) 11-7, 11-9, 17-15; Parth Sharma (Chennai) bt Manek Mathur (12-10, 11-5, 11-3; Naresh Kumar (Chennai) bt Rushabh Vora 12-10, 11-2, 11-5; Rishad Pandole bt Amjad Khan (Delhi) 12-10, 2-11, 11-7, 7-11, 12-10; Siddharth Suchde bt Naishad Lalwani 11-6, 11-7, 11-7.

Professionals: QF: B. Balamurugan (Chennai) bt Yogesh Sonawane 11-3, 12-10, 11-8; Rohit More bt Vijay Waghela 11-5, 11-1, 8-11, 11-4; Sachin Jadhav bt Vijay Jangra (Raj) 11-8, 11-4, 11-8; Sanjay Pawar bt Santosh More 11-2, 11-5, 11-6.

UNI