Irish Open: Mahesh Mangaonkar goes down in quarter-finals

Mahesh Mangaonkar (Source: Google)

Indian squash ace Mahesh Mangaonkar’s run came to an end at the PSA $15, 000 Gillen Markets Irish Open held at the Fitzwilliam Lawn Tennis Club in Dublin on Thursday as he went down fighting in the quarter-finals. The eighth seed was shown the door by the second seed and World No. 43 Laurens Jan Anjema 8-11, 11-8, 9-11, 3-11 in a 55-minute contest.

The 58th ranked Mangaonkar was in great form coming into this tournament and had won the Sekisui Open in March, besides a semi-final finish at the North of Scotland Open earlier this month.

He thus did not panic after losing the first game to his higher-ranked rival on Thursday. The 22-year-old stormed back to level the contest and put up a brilliant fight in the third game as well. However, the Dutch national champion managed to clinch the hard-fought and entertaining third game before racing away to the finish line in the fourth.

18-year-old U-19 national girls’ champion Harshit Jawanda was the only other Indian playing at this tournament. In her first overseas trip as a professional, the talented teenager won two qualifying rounds before bowing out in the first round of the main draw in a four-game battle.