Squash: Mangaonkar sails into last eight of Auckland tourney

Playing his third tournament in New Zealand, Mangaonkar, seeded six, needed just 26 minutes to beat his rival, a qualifier from Malaysia.

India's Mahesh Mangaonkar (L) has reached the quarterfinals of the Squash XL Open in Auckland on Thursday. (file photo)

India’s Mahesh Mangaonkar today made a confident start to his campaign in the Squash XL Open in Auckland, with a fluent 11-5, 11-6, 11-6 win over Valantino Bong to reach the quarterfinal.

Playing his third tournament in New Zealand, Mangaonkar, seeded six, needed just 26 minutes to beat his rival, a qualifier from Malaysia, said a SRFI press note here.

The Indian maintained a clean slate in his head-to-head matches against the Malaysian with a fourth straight win. Bong had also lost all his three earlier meetings with Magaonkar, the last being three years ago.

The Indian had in recent times lost in the final of the New Zealand International Classic in Palmerston North and faltered in the quarters of the NZ Southern Open squash tournament.