PANJIM: Goa’s Yash Fadte finished runner-up after going down to top seed Veer Chotrani in an exciting all-India boys under-13 championship round, in Hong Kong Junior Open Squash championship, at Hong Kong Squash Centre, Admiralty, recently.
Second seed Fadte lost 12-14, 11-8, 7-11, 8-11 in a thrilling contest after stretching Chotrani all the way. The St Joseph Institute lad stretched his opponent from Mumbai in the first set that went into extra points and snatched the second to set the stage for a tight finish.
Fadte, who recently won the NSCI Open in Mumbai and Pioneer Cup in Germany, battled hard in the third and fourth sets to keep his hopes of victory alive, as he threatened to extend the match into the decider while giving Chotrani a scare.
Fadte, who earned a bye into second round, kicked off his campaign with a fluent 11-2, 11-0, 11-3 win over Carlos Chan de Oliveira of Macau. He went on to prevail over a three opponents from Hong Kong, Ho Ka On 11-6, 11-5, 11-3 in the third round, Yeung Lok Hang 11-8, 11-8, 11-4 in the pre-quarter-final and To Wai Lok 11-3, 9-11, 11-4, 15-13 in a thrilling quarter-final.
Fadte, who also was runner-up in the Dutch Open and 21st Asian Junior Individual Squash Championship in Iran earlier, routed Atul Kumar Ishant Shah of Malaysia 11-6, 11-2, 11-2 in the semi-final before losing to Chotrani in the final.
The tournament was a World Squash Federation Tier 2 event and a platinum competition of the Asian Junior Super Series held under the auspices of the Asian Squash Federation.
The competition attracted nearly 530 entries from 14 different countries, including Canada, Chinese Taipei, Egypt, England, India, Japan, Jordan, Korea, Macau China, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, US, and host Hong Kong China.
