Aradhya Sharma of Himachal Pradesh recorded a 9-7 win to stun sixth seed Ajaivik Puri of Chandigarh in the opening qualifying round of the boys’ U-14 category of the Roots-AITA Challenge Series in Zirakpur.
Chandigarh’s Atishay Goyal defeated Haryana’s Advik Trikha 9-3, while another city player Kavish Malohtra overpowered Haryana’s Shaurya Garg 9-6. Dakshit Sharma also marched into the next round with a 9-5 verdict over Nimish Gupta of Himachal Pradesh, and fourth seed Haryana’s Viren Chaudhary ousted Pranay Goyal without conceding a single game.
Kushdeep Hooda registered an identical win over Depam Grover, and Vikrant Sharma defeated Haryana’s Arihaan Walia 9-2. In the last qualifiers, Bhavteg Singh defeated Ayush Bhardwaj 9-3, Prithvi Singh outplayed Yomav Sansarwal 9-0, Jahaan Krantri thrashed Yonit Sansarwal 9-1 and Reeyansh Singh defeated Sahbeg Singh 9-4.
In the boys’ U-18 opening round, Haryana’s Dhruv Assel defeated Virushabh Parmar of Gujarat 9-3 and Chandigarh’s Aarnav Singh defeated Haryana’s Aarav Bansal 9-2.