Kolkata, Aug 11 (IANS) Fresh from winning the singles title in the World University Squash Championship, fourth seed Suraj Kumar Chand overcame Egypt’s Hassan Menshawy in a 73-minute-long five-game thriller 11-4, 8-11, 11-2, 9-11, 11-8 in the men’s pre-quarterfinals of the HCL Squash PSA Challenger Tour in Kolkata on Tuesday.

In another engrossing five-game contest, Sandhesh Palanivel Ravikumar rallied from 2-0 down to beat sixth seed Ayaan Vaziralli 6-11, 10-12, 11-5, 11-6, 11-7 and advance to the men’s quarters.

In women’s, top seed Tanvi Khanna moved to the quarters with a straight-games win over Vasundhara Nangare.

Earlier, Arihant K.S. defeated Switzerland’s Leandro Mannhart 11-6, 9-11, 13-11, 11-4 in the men’s singles opening round on Monday.

In women’s first-round action, Pooja Arthi Raghu rallied to beat Kaashvi Mangal 13-15, 11-6, 11-6, 7-11, 11-9. Another Indian player, Ananya Narayanan, defeated Aahana Singh 8-11, 11-2, 11-8, 11-8 while Vasundhara Nangare got the better of compatriot Janet Vidhi 11-8, 11-5, 11-5.

The event has a prize fund of $9,000 for the men’s section while in the women’s section, the prize money is $9,000.

The HCL Squash PSA Challenger Tour has so far organised events in Indore, Mumbai, and Chennai, and is now in the Kolkata leg.

Results (pre-quarterfinals, Indians unless specified):

Men: 8-Om Semwal bt Ravi Dixit 11-6, 12-10, 12-14, 11-2; Sandhesh Palanivel Ravikumar bt 6-Ayaan Vaziralli 6-11, 10-12, 11-5, 11-6, 11-7; 1-Mohamed Gohar (Egy) bt Arihant KS 12-10, 11-2, 11-6; 4-Suraj Kumar Chand bt Hassan Menshawy (Egy) 11-4, 8-11, 11-2, 9-11, 11-8; 2-Ahmed Said Sobhy (Egy) bt Deepak Mandal 11-9, 12-10, 6-11, 11-4; 5-Hazem Hossam (Egy) bt Rahul Baitha 6-11, 13-11, 11-3, 11-5; 3-Seif Refaay (Egy) bt Fabian Igelbrink (Ger) 11-1, 11-3, 11-4; Shaurya Bawa bt 7-Islam Kouritam (Egy) 8-11, 11-6, 11-3, 11-3.

Women: 3-Sohayla Hazem (Egy) bt 8-Anjali Semwal 11-4, 12-10, 11-5; Ananya Narayanan bt Rani Gupta 11-4, 11-1, 11-5; 1-Tanvi Khanna bt Vasundhara Nangare 11-3, 11-6, 11-7; 7-Nirupama Dubey bt Vyomika Khandelwal 11-8, 11-5, 11-4; 4-Karolina Sramkova (Cze) bt Reiva Nimbalkar 11-4, 11-2, 12-10; 2-Menna Walid (Egy) bt Anika Dubey 12-10, 11-6, 12-10; 7-Unnati Tripathi bt Sahana Kalaivanan 11-1, 11-3, 11-5; 5-Rathika Seelan bt Pooja Arthi Raghu 11-1, 11-2, 11-3.

–IANS

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