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Anaka Alankamony, a trainee of the ICL Squash Academy in Chennai, played the match of her life in the quarterfinals of the Girls U13 at the British Junior Open in Sheffield.
Anaka overcame higher-ranked Egyptian, Kanzy El Dafrawy, in a five-game thriller. Losing the first easily, the second was neck-and-neck all the way with Kanzy pipping Anaka 10-9. From there onwards, it was all Anaka, playing flawless squash to attain an 8-0 lead in the third and a 7-1 lead in the fourth. Anaka went on to dominate the fifth too, to claim the match and a place in the semifinals.
A quarterfinalist in last year's edition, Anaka has shown tremendous improvement and has gone at least one better this time. She plays another Egyptian opponent, top-seeded Nour El
Sherbeny.
Saumya Kakri also entered the semifinals, defeating country mate Sachika Balvani in straight games en route. She next plays 3/4 seed Salma Esmat, from Egypt.
Results:
Anaka Alankamony {India} beat Kanzy El Dafrawy {Egypt}
2-9, 9-10, 9-7, 9-2, 9-3 {45m}
Saumya Karki {India} beat 5/8 Sachika Balvani {India}
9-6, 9-6, 10-9 {37m}.
R Rangaraj
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