Joshna upsets second seed Nardine; four Indians move to semis

Chennai, Dec 3 (PTI) Former world number 10 Joshna Chinappa rallied to beat Egyptian second seed Nardine Garas in a five-game thriller to move to the semifinals of the HCL Squash Indian Tour 4 here Wednesday.

Velavan Senthilkumar and Anahat Singh, the reigning men's and women's National champions respectively, and top seeds, recorded straight-games victories at the Indian Squash Academy, while men's second seed Veer Chotrani bowed out.

In the semifinals on Thursday, Joshna, 39, who won the Japan Open in October and finished runner-up in the Daly College Indian Open last month, will meet sixth seed compatriot Tanvi Khanna, who edged out Hong Kong fourth seed Nga Ching Cheng over five games.

The results (Quarterfinals; Indians unless specified): Men: 1-Velavan Senthilkumar bt 6-Joseph White (Aus) 11-9, 11-3,11-5; 5-Diego Gobbi (Bra) bt 3-Daniel Poleshchuk (Isr) 11-5, 11-4, 11-3; 7-Maceo Levy (Fra) bt 4-Ibrahim Elkabbani (Egy) 5-11, 11-5, 3-11, 14-12, 11-6; Adam Hawal (Egy) bt 2-Veer Chotrani 11-9, 11-7, 11-8.

Women: 3-Hayley Ward (RSA) bt 5-Ching Hei Fung (HK) 11-9, 11-8, -11, 7-11, 11-7; 1-Anahat Singh bt 8-Akari Midorikawa (Jpn) 11-2, 11-2, 11-8; 6-Tanvi Khanna bt 4-Nga Ching Cheng (HK) 7-11, 12-10, 14-12, 7-11, 11-4; Joshna Chinappa bt 2-Nardine Garas (Egy) 6-11, 11-7, 5-11, 11-6, 11-7. PTI AT AT UNG