Asian Junior Squash Championships: Dhairya Shocks Hong Kong Seed on Opening Day

Panzhihua- India’s junior squash players made a strong start to the 33rd Asian Junior Individual Squash Championships in Panzhihua, China, with several dominant performances across categories. The highlight of the day came from Dhairya Gogia, who pulled off a major upset in the boys’ Under-13 event.

Unseeded Dhairya Gogia defeated Hong Kong’s 5/8 seed Tse Ka Chun in a thrilling four-game contest. Gogia won the opening-round match 12-10, 10-12, 11-7, 11-7 on Wednesday, setting the tone for an impressive outing by the Indian contingent.

Strong Results in U-13 Category

In the boys’ Under-13 section, Amarya Bajaj registered a convincing win over Macau’s Chau Hyo Chon by 11-1, 11-1, 11-5. Abhyuday Arora also cruised past Sri Lanka’s Danuja Jayasinghe with scores of 11-5, 11-4, 11-1.

In the girls’ U-13 category, Riyaa Dalal defeated Sri Lanka’s Dheerya Mithali Silva 11-0, 11-6, 11-7, while 5/8 seed Alia Kankaria comfortably beat Korea’s Eun Choi 11-4, 11-6, 11-5.

Mixed Fortunes in U-15 Division

India also performed strongly in the Under-15 category. Dhruv Johri eased past Sri Lanka’s Disas Subasinghe with a straight-game victory of 11-3, 11-5, 11-3.

However, Vedant Agarwal narrowly lost a hard-fought five-game match against Singapore’s Jackrish Kumar Sashikumar. The match ended 10-12, 11-9, 11-13, 11-5, 11-3 in favour of the Singaporean player.

India Dominates U-17 and U-19 Categories

In the Under-17 division, Hridhaan Shah, Lokesh Subramani, Shiven Agarwal and Raghav Vashishta secured impressive wins against players from China, Hong Kong and Macau.

Among the girls, Saanvi Kalanki, Riyansika Verma and Diva Shah continued India’s unbeaten run with commanding victories over their opponents.

The Under-19 girls’ category also witnessed strong performances from Indian players. Unnati Tripathi advanced after China’s Li Shiqi retired during the match, while Akanksha Gupta, Vyomika Khandelwal and Eesha Shrivastava all recorded straight-game victories against opponents from Japan, Korea and China.

India’s strong showing across multiple age groups on the opening day sent a clear message to its Asian rivals as the four-day tournament moved ahead.

With inputs from IANS