Squash action returns to the Cricket Club of India (CCI), the home of Indian squash, as the country's leading players will feature in the 58th Senior National Championship & 67th CCI-Western India Open Squash Tournament that will be held concurrently at the Cricket Club of India from December 4 to 10.
The Senior National Championship will be returning to Mumbai after a hiatus of five years and will have eight categories including Men, Women and Professionals.
The 67th CCI-Western India tournament, the oldest in the world and being conducted uninterrupted for over six and a half decades, will include eight junior categories for boys and girls.
The 58th Senior National Championship & 67th CCI-Western India Open Squash Tournament is being organised under the aegis of the Squash Rackets Federation of India and the Squash Rackets Association of Maharashtra.
Defending champion and top seed Saurav Ghosal leads a strong men's field that includes second seed Siddharth Suchde who is ranked No. 73 in the world, No. 3 Harinderpal Sandhu, and Sandeep Jangra, Gaurav Nandrajog and current Asian junior champion Ravi Dixit.
Ghosal, who is the highest ranked Indian at No. 25 in the world, is a five-time National champion including the last four in a row, and is the favourite.
Among the women, world No. 36 Joshna Chinappa is a nine-time National champion including the last seven in a row. After returning from the World Championship in New Zealand, she will be a clear favourite. The formidable Anwesha Reddy is seeded No. 2.
Once again a large number of players from all over the country will make the trip to Mumbai for one of the sport's most prestigious tournaments. A significant number of players especially from Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu will arrive to challenge the local talent and enhance the level of the competition among the juniors.
There is a posse of talented juniors who are likely to spring a surprise and catch the eye and they include Vrishab Kotian of Tamil Nadu and Mumbai boys Akash Borwankar, Raghav Mehrotra, Arjun Kochhar, Yohan Pandole, Kunj Rawani, Aryan Parikh, Aditya Khatri and Dev Vazirani.
The girls to watch out for are Urvashi Joshi, Aishwarya Kulkarni, Jui Kalgutkar and Aishwarya Nambiar.
Of the total prize money of Rs. 7 lakh, the men's winner's purse of Rs. 1,25,000 is the largest in the tournament's history. The runner-up will receive Rs. 63,000.
The women's winner will receive Rs. 40,000 while the runner-up will get Rs. 20,000.
SEEDINGS:
(Sr. Nationals)
Men: 1. Saurav Ghosal, 2. Siddharth Suchde, 3. Harinderpal Sandhu, 4. Sandeep Jangra, 5. Gaurav Nandrajog (Del), 6. Ravi Dixit (TN).
Women: 1. Joshna Chinappa (TN), 2. Anwesha Reddy (TN).
