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Manish Chotrani
Squash champion Manish Chotrani means business
 A
career in competitive squash was not envisaged by national champion
Manish Chotrani for whom success at the premier level of
the game has been quite accidental. Chotrani is coursing a different
line today as top notch squash player after he took to the game
at the ripe age of 19 with the solitary aim to reduce his weight.
Although Chotrani made steady progress in practice sessions under
the guidance of Cyrus Poncha at the Otters Club, he was obliged
only towards his flourishing garment business. Things took a different
turn when Chotrani tasted success in local tournaments. His maiden
appearance in the Nationals in Kolkata in 1999 may have resulted
in a loss to Ritwik Bhattacharya in the semifinal. However, Ritwik
was compelled to eat the humble pie when Chotrani asserted his supremacy
in the Nationals held at the MRC courts in Chennai last year and
became the national squash champion at the age of 28.
 Chotrani
experienced the most satisfying moment of his career, when he represented
India in the Asian Championships held in Hongkong last year. In
addition to this, he had also won the Dewan Housing Squash Classic
in 1998 and The Leela Squash Masters in 1998. Chotrani believes
that fitness and speed are his assets while there is always room
for improvement in racket skills.When asked to comment about his
favorite player, Chotrani said, “As a youngster, I admired
Jehangir Khan who was the top player in the world. In fact, I used
to learn a lot by simply studying the cassettes of Jehangir Khan's
matches”. When asked to throw light on the current scenario
prevailing in Indian squash, Chotrani said, “There are many
promising youngsters like Vishal Kapoor and Junaid Nathani who are
very talented and can become national champions in two or three
years time."
Chotrani completed his commerce degree from Sydenham College and
has been engaged in the garment business for the past 10 years.
He practices every day at the Otters Club and Khar Gymkhana in the
evening and aims to scale greater heights as a squash player.
By : Wasim Siddiqui
Photographer : Vinayak Prabhu
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