Chennai, May 22 (IANS) India were assured of eight medals at the 33rd Asian Junior Individual Squash Championships in Panzhihua, China, on Friday after Shiven Agarwal led a spirited bunch into the semifinals across categories.

Shiven, seeded 5/8, beat Singaporean Rehaan Singh in straight games in the boys’ U-17 quarterfinals and will meet fellow Indian Squash Academy trainee Lokesh Subramani in the semifinals. Lokesh, meanwhile, defeated compatriot Hridhaan Shah in the quarters.

Aryaveer Dewan, who won the boys’ U-17 crown last year, advanced to the U-19 semifinals after beating countryman Yusha Nafees in four close games.

Others to make the last-four stage were: Anika Dubey in girls’ U-17, Abhyuday Arora and Amarya Bajaj in boys’ U-13, and Shanaya Parasrampuria and Divyanshi Jain in girls’ U-13.

Earlier, India’s Hridhaan Shah took out Malaysian top seed Muhammad Haiqal Hazim Bin Syarudin 11-13, 11-5, 11-4, 11-7 in the boys’ U-17 pre-quarterfinals.

Joining Hridhaan in the boys’ U-17 quarterfinals are compatriots Lokesh Subramani and Shiven Agarwal, with Hridhaan meeting Lokesh next. Aryaveer Dewan, Gurveer Singh, and Yusha Nafees advanced to the quarterfinals in the boys’ U-19 category.

Other Indians to make the last-eight stage across categories are: Abhyuday Arora, Dhairya Gogia, and Amarya Bajaj in boys’ U-13, Alia Kankaria, Shanaya Parasrampuria, and Divyanshi Jain in girls’ U-13, Shresht Iyer and Dhruv Bopana in boys’ U-15, Aadya Budhia in girls’ U-15, Anika Dubey in girls’ U-17, and Unnati Tripathi in girls’ U-19.

Indian results (quarterfinals):

U-19 — Boys: 3/4-Aryaveer Dewan bt Yusha Nafees 11-9, 12-10, 3-11, 11-9; 3/4-Md Alnasfan (KSA) bt Gurveer Singh 11-6, 9-11, 11-7, 11-3. Girls: Whitney Wilson (Mas) bt Unnati Tripathi 9-11, 11-7, 11-5, 11-3.

U-17 — Boys: 5/8-Lokesh Subramani bt Hridhaan Shah 11-9, 11-8, 4-11, 11-6; 5/8-Shiven Agarwal bt Rehaan Singh (Sgp) 11-7, 11-6, 11-6. Girls: 3/4-Anika Dubey bt Naisha Singh (Sgp) 11-7, 11-7, 11-4.

U-15 — Boys: Md Sohail Adnan (Pak) bt 2-Shresht Iyer 11-6, 6-11, 11-5, 11-6; 3/4-Vidhurran Ruthiran (Mas) bt 5/8-Dhruv Bopana 12-10, 11-7, 9-11, 6-11, 11-5. Girls: Makaela Lin Cassidy (HK) bt Aadya Budhia 11-8, 12-10, 12-10.

U-13 — Boys: 3/4-Abhyuday Arora bt Md Mustafa Khan (Pak) 14-16, 11-9, 9-11, 11-3, 11-4; 3/4-Amarya Bajaj bt Dhairya Gogia 11-9, 11-9, 11-4. Girls: 1-Kareena Sashikumar (Sgp) bt 5/8-Alia Kankaria 11-2, 11-8, 11-7; 3/4-Shanaya Parasrampuria bt Qingyuan Zheng (Chn) 11-9, 11-9, 8-11, 11-9; 2-Divyanshi Jain bt Nurul Nazir (Mas) 13-11, 11-8, 11-6.

–IANS

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