Defending champions extend dominance in state squash meet

Ahmedabad: Kiaan Kanade, Anya Nagpal, Rohan Mansingani and Dhritih Kandpal maintained their supremacy in their respective categories to retain the state champions titles with ease at the recently concluded Gujarat state closed championship in Rajkot.
Dhritih hardly broke a sweat in the women’s final, thrashing top seed Naekata Chawla 11-7, 11-3, 11-4 to claim the title.
Ttop seed Vedant Patel thumped Mishal Mehta 11-1, 11-4, 11-6 to clinch the men’s title.
The U-19 girls’ final saw top seed Dhwani Balchandani pummelling Devi Dhulesia 11-0, 11-4, 11-6 to pocket the crown. The best match was the U-19 boys’ final. Top seed Aayush Patel was crowned the champion but not without breaking a sweat. Second seed Arya Patel lost the first two game but staged a comeback to win the next two games and force a decider. Aayush, however, regrouped to bag the decider. Aayush won 12-10, 11-6, 8-11, 9-11, 11-8.
Priyanshi Adesara defeated Shreeya Kotecha 11-6, 11-1, 11-4 to win the U-17 girls’ title while top seed Ved Patel eased past Merill Vegda 11-2, 11-7, 12-10 to bag the U-17 boys’ title.
Anya Nagpal and Rohan Mansingani were crowned the U-15 girls’ and boys’ champions respectively. Anya beat Heer Padaliya 11-5, 11-7, 11-9 while Rohan beat Nisarg Raiyani 11-5, 11-3, 11-6. Vipra Patel became the U-13 girls’ champion after defeating Harshvardhinee Doshi 11-3, 11-7, 11-2 in the summit clash. Top seed Hetansh Kalaria saw off the challenge of second seed Harmandeep Thakur 11-7, 11-9, 11-8 to win the U-13 boys’ crown.
Top seed Kiaan Kanade bagged the boys’ U-11 title, with a stellar display outplaying Maan Khunt 11-2, 11-2, 11-3 in the final.