The Manipal University squash team registered their first win over BITS A in the first round. It consisted of a best-of-three between the players of each college, and Manipal won two matches to Team A’s one. Spectators consisted of other teams and few other BITSians, making for poor attendance to a good game.

 The first match, between Team A’s captain Shreyas and Manipal’s Rahul began with the BITSian losing 6 points in a row. Rahul switched between forehand and backhand services, and Shreyas was caught off guard by these variations. The captain made a steady come back and ended with a 11-9, 9-11 and 11-9 win, the latter two sets being close from the start.

After the hosts started off on a good note, the next match was between Team A’s veteran Arnab and Manipal’s Siddharth. Each set was hard-fought; 12-14, 12-10 and 12-10 in favour of Siddharth. The match saw both players using a lot of drops and lobs, especially in the left half of the court. This forced both to play backhand shots, a common weakness in most squash players, and neither held the T for any significant time. Siddharth claimed a lot of “lets” and was awarded only a fraction of them, including a crucial one when he was losing 9-10 in the third set. Though the game suggested otherwise, he remarked, “It was a smooth and comfortable victory.”

The onus then came on Manipal’s captain Prakhar and fresher Shrivas to win it for their respective colleges. Prakhar and his kill shots, which are powerful and low shots that are impossible to receive, proved to be too much to handle for Shrivas. The game ended in a 11-2, 11-6 thumping and a well-deserved win for Manipal.

 “This only shows how stiff the competition is. Arnab had practiced for less than a week and had stamina issues, which hurt us,” Shreyas commented on the loss. Team A, still in the competition, will look to forget this game and win the other group stage matches.