Sehar Nayar adds another feather to her cap
Deepankar Sharda
Chandigarh, August 24
Local squash player Sehar Nayar got a major shot in the arm by winning the girls’ U-15 gold medal during the IIT Gandhinagar Squash Open, Gujarat. The tournament was jointly organised by the IITGN, the Squash Racket Federation of India (SRFI) and the All-Gujarat Squash Racquet Association.
Good year so far
I am happy with this win and I hope to carry forward the same performance in the upcoming championships. This year has been great so far as this is my third major win. I will play in some more invitational championships before the upcoming junior nationals. — Sehar Nayar
Sehar won the title by defeating Sanvi Batar (11-3, 11-7, 11-1) in the final. Earlier, she defeated Aelina Shah (11-9, 11-2, 11-5) and Chhavi Saran (11-6, 11-2, 11-3) to enter the semi-finals. Before confirming her final’s berth, she overpowered a tough challenge by Navya Sundararajan. After losing the first game (9-11), Sehar registered a (11-4) win in the next game. Navya, who was performing exceptionally well, managed to claim the lead by winning the next game (8-11). However, Sehar kept her cool and won the next two games (11-9, 12-10) before setting up the title clash.
In June this year, Sehar had represented India in the 29th Asian Junior Squash Championship in Thailand. She had claimed overall 5th position in the tournament. On returning to India, she won the Khelshala Freedom Open Squash Tournament held in Chandigarh on August 15.
Sehar, daughter of Saurabh Nayar, a former squash international player, trains at Chandigarh Club under the guidance of her father and uncle Vikas Nayar. Saurabh had earlier won a bronze medal in the Asian Masters’ Championship in Lahore in 2012 and had reached the quarters in the World Masters Squash Championship in 2014. He had also won a silver medal in the Asian Squash Championship in Dalian, China, 2016. Sehar’s uncle Vikas is also a former international player.
Tarini claims silver
In the same championship, Chandigarh’s Tarini Mirdha claimed second position in the girls’ U-11 category. Sehar and Tarini are students of Vivek High School, Sector 38. Tarini went down against top seed Anika Kalanki (1-11, 1-11, 2-11) to settle with the silver medal. Earlier, she defeated Riya Dalal (11-1, 11-0, 11-5), second seed Aradhana Singh (11-9, 11-9, 11-9) and Nandikasree Kalaivanan (11-3, 11-4, 11-2) to enter the final. Saurabh won the men’s 45+ singles event.
