Ravindu and Dilshan makes way into the Mens Open Semis at SSC Open Squash

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Category: squash

Published on Saturday, 10 December 2011 15:40

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Ravindu Laksiri and Dilshan Gunawardena paved their way into the semi finals at the SSC Open National Ranking Squash Tournament when they beat the 3rd and the 4th seeds respectively in the quarter finals.

Ravindu was the first to create an upset when he beat third seed Eranga Alwis in a hard fought 4 setter. Eranga who played a calm slow game initially was leading 4-1 at one stage and going well in the first set. But he could not keep his patience and tried to pace up the game making unforced errors which cost him a lot thus loosing the advantageous lead. Ravindu at the other end was making the maximum use out of it and controlled the game thereafter. With the lead Ravindu gained more confidence and went on to play some lovely nick shots putting Eranga into more trouble and went on to take the first set 11/5.

Second set saw Eranga coming up  with a different plan and playing a defensive game and the strategy worked well helping him take the second set 11/7. With the set scores leveled the match was back to square one and became even tougher with both trying hard to get the upper hand in the third set from the beginning itself.

At a stage where fitness matters most Ravindu took the advantage with his swift agile movements and took the third game easily. With almost an empty tank and batteries gone down to the last bit Eranga did not have much of a choice but to wait for his opponent to make mistakes. The fourth set saw Eranga going in for winners and cutting short rallies and at one stage was leading 7/5 with just another 4 more points to take the fourth set. But then again in an attempt to score quickly a lot of unforced errors were made providing Ravindu the needed last few points to take set and the match.

In another quarter final Dilshan Gunawardena had the better of Yasir Issadeen in a tough 4 setter. The first set was fiercely contested and both the players were not able to take a considerable lead at any stage. It even went for a tie breaker and a front court winner by Dilshan and an unforced error by Yasir helped Dilshan take the last two points and the much needed first set. The second set too went the same way and the scores were 7 each when Yasir started losing his focus and made 4 unforced errors in a row to help Dilshan take the second set 11/7.Yasir a proven tough fighter was not to go down easily and came back strongly to take the third set 11/6 scoring most of the points through front court winners.

With a do or die situation Yasir played a more defensive game attacking only the loose balls. But his winners were not that effective later on and Dilshan went to take the final game 11/6 and with it the match.

Both Dilshan Gunawardena and Ravindu Laksiri, the top seeds In the U-19 age group played exceptionally well to make way into the semi finals of the Mens Open event and their performance is a good sign for the future of Srl Lanka Squash with more and more juniors showing their potential and giving a hard time for the seniors. Dilshan will be playing the top seed and the current National Champion Navin Samarasinghe in one semi final while Ravindu will be taking on Saman Thilakaratne in the other semi final. Dilshan and Ravindu will also be meeting each other in the Boys U-19 Final and Dilshan will no doubt try his best to take the revenge of losing the last encounter played among them.

Meanwhile in the Womens Open event top seed Sharya will take on the winner of the pre quarter final played between Fathoum Issadeen and Mandakini Gunasekara while Mihiliya Methsarani will play Sandali Gomes and bottom seed Dulakshi Elikawela is to take on Sanjeewani Wickramarachchi in the another pre quarter final. Dulakshi will also be taking on Madakini in the Girls U-19 Final.

The Boys 17 age group saw upcoming players Shamil Wakeel and Viduranga Udantha making upset victories over seeded Rashendra Rajapaksha and Udantha Hewage respectively. Shamil and Viduranga will be meeting twice in the Boys U-15 and BoysU-17 finals and both the matches would no doubt be of high quality standard thus providing the spectators and the supporters a thrilling experience.

At the same time Mihiliya Methsarni qualified for the Girls U-15 final without much effort and would be eyeing for a spot in the Final of the Womens Open event. In the Girls U-17 age group Dinithi Nanayakkara who beat Prabashi Rajapaksha in one semi final will have to take on the winner of the other semi final played between Fathoum Issadeen and Wasundara Suwaris in the final.

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