Otters Club Vedanta Squash Open from 9th April
India’s leading players to feature in the PSA
Satellite 3 Star tournament
Mumbai: The Otters Club squash courts are set to buzz with activity and
will witness top-quality action from India’s leading senior and junior squash
players who will vie for top honors in the Otters Club Vedanta Squash Open, to
be organized by 5 Sports, in association with Otters Club at their glass-back
squash courts from April 9 to 13, 2019. Due to the overwhelming response Khar Gymkhana
will also be hosting the first 2days of the tournament. The Otters Club Vedanta
Squash Open is a PSA satellite event and a 3-Star tournament on the Indian
Junior squash circuit.
The
tournament is sponsored by Vedanta and organized by 5 sports while Otters Club
is the venue partner. Both the events will be organized under the aegis of Squash
Rackets Federation of India (SRFI), Maharashtra Squash Rackets Association (MSRA)
and Professional Squash Association (PSA), World body for squash. Given the
tournament is a PSA satellite event this will help the professional players to
score points on the PSA circuit.
Speaking
on the occasion, Mr. Anil Agarwal, Chairperson Vedanta said, “Vedanta is
actively working towards making India a powerhouse for sports. We are doing
this through various grass-root level sports development initiatives. In
addition to our strong presence in football, we are very pleased to associate
with this squash tournament, especially with added focus on young players in
the competition. We hope many of the competing boys and girls will go on to do
our country proud at the global stage, and in turn encourage more youngsters to
pursue sports as a serious career option.”
Adding
to the conversation Mr Annanya Agarwal, President Vedanta Sports Said, "Indian squash
is indeed going places with our men and women players making their mark on the
global stage, and we are extremely happy to associate with the Otters Club
Vedanta Squash Open. It is great that the tournament is giving an opportunity
for young girls and boys to play competitive squash at the highest level,
apart from the women's and men's open. The field for the event looks really
strong and competitive across all the categories, and we are surely in for
an exciting tournament."
The
junior tournament has attracted entries from leading Indian players. According
to the Championship Director Srikanth Seshadri, the event has received 446
entries across the categories of Boys and Girls under 11, 13, 15, 17, 19 and
Men & Women.
The
Tournament has a total prize fund of Rs 5 lakh, from which Rs 3 lakh is
allotted for the juniors, while Rs 2 lakh is up for grabs among the open
category. Maharashtra
has the highest number of participants with 262 entries, while the tournament
will also see substantial participation from Delhi, Chandigarh, Madhya Pradesh,
and Tamil Nadu, among others.
Elaborating
on the tournament Rhea Bhandare, Co-Founder, 5 Sports said, “The Otters Club
Vedanta Squash Open is only our 3rd endeavor at conducting a
national/international squash tournament but the response from the squash
fraternity has been overwhelming. We have got close to 450 entries from 23
different states and the level of play that will be demonstrated from 9th to
13th of April 2019 is surely going to be worth witnessing as the participants
registered under each category are amongst the best players in the country.”
Jay
Jhaveri, Co-Founder, 5 Sports further added “We have got a great field in the senior
category with the top men and women players participating in the first edition.
Vijay Kumar and Ranjit singh will lead the field for men while India no 3 &
5 Urvashi Joshi and Sachika Balvani are top seeded in the women’s category. We
are grateful to Vedanta for their support and we wish to make this tournament a
regular occurrence on the Indian Squash Circuit”
Services
lead the men’s field with India No 7 and 9 Vijay Kumar and Ranjit Singh on the
top of the seeding list followed by India no 10 Jamal Sakib, who is seeded in
the 5/8 bracket. Abhishek Agarwal of Maharashtra is seeded in the 3/4 bracket.
In
the women’s draw, India No 3 Urvashi Joshi and India No 5 Sachika Balvani of
Maharashtra are the top two seeds. India No 12 Aradhana Kasturiraj is the 3rd seed
and India No 10 Sanya Vats, who is currently No. 1 in the juniors ranking are
placed in the 5/8 bracket.
In
the Boys U-19 draw, India No. 4 & 5, Veer Chotrani and Tushar Sahani of
Maharashtra lead the field, followed by India No. 11 Deepak Mandal in third
place.
Jannia
Singh of Chandigarh, who won an Otters Club tournament last August, will lead
the Girls U-19 field followed by Tanaya M Parakh of West Bengal. Amira Singh
and Bhavana Goyal are the joint 3rd and 4th seeds.
15 year old Ashiwarya Khuchandani seeded in the 5/8 bracket will be competing
with the Top U-19 players.
Seeding list:
Men: Vijay Kumar,1 Ranjit Singh, 2, Abhishek Agarwal, 3/4 , Jamal
Sakib 5/8, Gaurav Nandrajog 5/8, Guhan Senthilkumar 5/8, Naveen Jangra 5/8,
Rahul Baitha 9/16, Abhinav Sinha 9/16
Women: Urwashi Joshi (Mah) 1, Sachika Balvani 2, Aaradhana
Kasturiraj 3/4 , Sanya Vats5/8, Chayanika Changkakoti 5/8, Divyakriti Singh
5/8, Prapti Salunkhe 5/8, Radhika Rathore 5/8
Boys’ U-19: Veer Chotrani 1, Tushar Shahani 2, Deepak Mandal 3/4, Saksham
Choudhary 5/8, Aarash Mehta 5/8, Avinash Yadav 5/8, Diwakar Singh 5/8, Vivaan
Jaikishan 9/16, Abhishek Kumar 9/16,
Girls’ U-19: Jannia Singh 1, Tanaya M Parakh 2, Amira Singh 3/4
,Bhavana Goyal 3/4, Aishwarya Khubchandani 5/8, Anjali Devi 5/8, Anjali Kumari
5/8, Rewa Bharma 5/8
About 5
Sports
5 Sports creates squash &
fitness programs where coaching is conducted by World Squash Federation (WSF)
accredited coaches for toddlers, beginners, intermediate and advance level
players. The company also provides nutrition & mind management services. It
looks to empower today’s youth and adults with sporting skills, to create an
impact on day to day lives through over all fitness, to produce champions on
and off court and lastly, to increase accessibility to sports. 5 Sports also manages & conducts tournaments at
national & international levels with Squash Rackets Federation of India
(SRFI), Professional Squash Association (PSA), Maharashtra Squash Rackets
Association (MSRA), Indian Squash Professional (ISP), & Asian Squash
Federation (ASF). 5 Sports also conducts a unique All Star
Summer program where, top players of India like Saurav Goshal, Mahesh
Mangaonkar, Joshna Chinappa and others coach children and adults, while sharing
some world class experience over the summer camp.
Rhea Bhandare partner & co-founder of 5
Sports was a four-time Indian Junior National Squash Champion. She has
represented India at the Asian Junior Squash Championship and Pre-Common Wealth
Games. She was ranked world no 3 in the junior category. Academically Rhea has as
a B.A. degree from the Ivy League, University of Pennsylvania (UPENN), U.S, and
has previously worked with some prominent establishments in the corporate world
across management consulting, public relations and retail.
Jay Jhaveri, partner and co-founder of 5
Sports is an avid squash player himself. He has been the convener of the squash
department at the National Sports Club of India (NSCI) for 5 years till early
2018. The squash academy which was set up under his guidance and leadership at
NSCI included over 150 children and adults, 5 head coaches, 10 assistant
coaches and several fitness, mental and yoga trainers. During his time at NSCI
national and international tournaments were organized under his guidance.
About
Vedanta Ltd: Vedanta Limited, a subsidiary of Vedanta
Resources Limited, is one of the world’s leading diversified natural resource
companies with business operations in India, South Africa, Namibia and
Australia. Vedanta is a leading producer of Oil & Gas, Zinc, Lead, Silver,
Copper, Iron Ore, Aluminum, Steel and Commercial Power.
Governance and Sustainable Development are at
the core of Vedanta's strategy, with a strong focus on health, safety and
environment and on enhancing lives of the local communities. The company is
conferred with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) ‘Sustainable Plus
Platinum label’, ranking among the top 10 most sustainable companies in India. Vedanta
Limited is listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange and the National Stock Exchange
in India and has ADRs listed on the New York Stock Exchange. For further
information, please contact: Mr. Arun Arora: arun.arora@cairnindia.com. For more information please visit www.vedantalimited.com
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