Malaysia's Shahril Shahidan denied the host nation a clean sweep of qualifiers from today's (Wednesday) qualifying finals of the Otters Open Squash Championship at the Otters Club in Mumbai when he beat Sandeep Jangra 9-11, 11-7, 11-5, 11-9 in the new PSA Tour event in the commercial capital of India.
Shahidan, 21, has been drawn to meet Ireland's fifth seed Arthur Gaskin in the first round – while Parthiban Ayappan, one of three Indians to qualify, will face top-seeded compatriot Ritwik Bhattacharya.
Bhattacharya, the Indian No1 who won the Chennai Open in June, is expected to face fellow countryman Saurav Ghosal, the No2 seed, in Sunday's final. Ghosal, a student at Leeds University in England, celebrates his 20th birthday by taking on Malaysian Nafzahizam Adnan in the first round on Thursday.
Updated 1st round draw:
[1] Ritwik Bhattacharya (IND) v [Q] Parthiban Ayappan (IND)
[8] Ryan Thompson (NAM) v [Q] Siddharth Suchde (IND)
[4] Mohd Nafiizwan Adnan (MAS) v [Q] Harinder Pal Sandhu (IND)
[5] Darren Lewis (ENG) v Neil Hitchens (ENG)
[6] Arthur Gaskin (IRL) v [Q] Shahril Shahidan (MAS)
[3] Timothy Arnold (MAS) v Aqeel Rehman (AUT)
[7] Friedrich Scheel (GER) v Gaurav Nandrajog (IND)
[2] Saurav Ghosal (IND) v Nafzahizam Adnan (MAS)
RESULTS: Otters Open Squash Championship, Otters Club, Mumbai, India
Qualifying finals:
Shahril Shahidan (MAS) bt Sandeep Jangra (IND) 9-11, 11-7, 11-5, 11-9 (45m)
Parthiban Ayappan (IND) bt Naresh Kumar (IND) 11-8, 9-11, 10-11 (0-2), 11-8, 11-9 (45m)
Harinder Pal Sandhu (IND) bt Vikram Malhotra (IND) 11-6, 7-11, 7-11, 11-1, 11-7 (36m)
Siddharth Suchde (IND) bt Vikas Jangra (IND) 11-1, 11-3, 11-8 (20m)