Indian boys face Pakistan in final of Asian Junior Squash

COLOMBO - The Indian boys team reached the finals of the Asian Junior Team Squash championships with a comprehensive victory against Malaysia in the semi-finals here Saturday and will take on Pakistan in the title clash.

Indian top seed Ramit Tandon led the way against his Malaysian counterpart Muhammad Zul Azri and won in straight games 11-5, 11-7, 11-2.

Displaying his superior racquet skills and finishing abilities, Tandon made Azri run to all four corners of the court. Although very quick in movement, Azri was not able to retrieve all that was thrown at him.

In the second singles, Mahesh Mangaonkar completed the victory for India with a clinical display against Malaysian Sanjay Singh, also winning without much ado.

Apart from the first game, Mangaonkar convincingly dropped the ball to great effect with no answer from Sanjay and won 11-8, 11-1, 11-4.

With the rubber decided 2-0 in Indias favour, the third singles, between Abhishek Pradhan and Mohd Adeen Idrakie was not required.

In the pool stages, India had defeated Jordan, Hong Kong, Iran, Singapore and Japan.

The Indian girls lost in the semi-finals to top-seeded Hong Kong but secured the bronze medal.

The girls had defeated Sri Lanka and China in the league stages but lost their all-important tie against Malaysia 1-2.