UP State Ranking Tournament 09 held at the legendary Mayo Hall Sports Squash Complex, Allahabad

Its a little over 5am....Prayagraj Express train on way to Delhi from Allahabad. I cannot sleep further as the excitement is palpable. Its been 3 heady, nostalgic days at Allahabad. I was re-visiting my College time city after 18 long years....and that too for Squash!! The legendary Amitabh Bhachchan Mayo Sports Complex was hosting the UP State Ranking Squash Tournament 09. This Complex has produced great sportsmen for the country....Abhinn Shyam Gupta, former India No.1 badminton champion being one of them. The Squash Courts here, built during my college days after a lot of us students won over the Directorate of Sports, UP Government, have been the Mecca of Squash coaches for our country for sometime now. Dilip Tripathy, an ASF Level 2 Coach, one of the highest level trainers in India along with Hari Om Tripathy, currently coaching at the premiere ICL Squash Academy, Chennai are both products of the Mayo Squash Courts. Dilip had also trained the current Indian National Men's Squash Champion Sourav Ghoshal while he was a junior. Sourav is also an Arjuna awardee.


So, in many ways the Mayo Courts have been critical to the growth of Indian Squash. And now they were hosting this ranking tournament, in association with Directorate of Sports, UP Government, UPSRA & SRFI after many many years.

The Organizers....the Allahabad Squash Rackets Association did a fantastic job. There were about 60 odd entries for various boys/mens categories:

1. Over 35
2. Under 15
3. Under 17
4. Under 19, and
5. Men's Open

The event was well managed and executed by the Allahabad Squash Rackets Association and time schedules were adhered to by one and all. T-Shirts were sponsored by the Krishna Virendra Trust.

Sandeep Yadav, a local boy, came out as the most valuable player..winning both the Men's Open as well as the Boys Under 19 events.

A Delhi based NGO....REACHA, that works closely with the DDA for Squash Development in Delhi & North India...has decided to provide a years squash kit sponsorship for Sandeep worth Rs. 20,000 as part of its Sports Development Programme. This kit is being couriered to the Allahabad Squash Rackets Association within the next week.

Keen sponsors are being explored to further develop Squash in UP. These sponsorships would be based purely on merit & performance. A number of businesses in Allahabad have already started talking with the local association to sponsor & support players like Sandeep (he was recently sent to Dilip Tripathy for a 15 day coaching stint in Kolkata by the Allahabad Squash Rackets Association).

For a change this event was widely covered by the local media - Times of India, Dainik Jagran, Amar Ujala, Hindustan, Sahara Samay etc. Snaps and media clips will be uploaded here within the next few days.

Squash needs a lot more of such synergies to become a popular sport of the masses!!

Signing off!