Congratulations to Akaisha Bhatia, Makeda Moshi, Trinity Moshi, and Yash Shivani for their selection to Team USA. Only the nation’s top juniors are invited to the team.
The British Junior Open (BJO), held the first week in January, is considered the world’s most competitive junior tournament with age divisions, and all four NCS juniors finished ahead of their seeding in the 2026 contest.
Akaisha Bhatia upset a 9/16 Malaysian player in the GU17 round of 32. After dropping two of the first three games, she took game four 13-11, then closed out the match 11-4. She eventually finished 14th. Akaisha also won the Berman and Masouds Orthodontics St James Satellite Event, a professional event, beating Molly Chadwick, a recently graduated All-Ivy player, in the final. She also finished ninth at the US Junior Open last month.
BU13 Yash Shivani, seeded 17/32, finished 20th. In the main draw, he pushed a 9/16 seed, who … Continue Reading ››
Akaisha Bhatia was one of just three GU17 Americans selected to represent Team USA at the Egyptian Junior Open this summer, considered one of the four toughest junior tournaments in the world. Bhatia finished seventh in GU17 after pushing an Egyptian seeded 3/4 to five games.
US Squash also named Bhatia as an All-American due to her stellar national ranking in GU17. Elise Kang, who competes for the Hotchkiss School in the NEISA High School League, was also named one of three All-Americans from that league.
BU15 Kian Patnaik played #5 for Team USA in its annual “Battle of the Border” against Canada, which the U.S. won 15-9. BU13 Yash Shivani, who just moved to our area, played #2.
It was the first time Patnaik and Shivani were invited to represent Team USA.
According to US Squash, the event gives “players from the U13, U15 and U17 age categories the opportunity to represent Team … Continue Reading ››
Trinity Moshi finished 9th in GU19 at the Super JCT, held in conjunction with the US National Championships. Christian Keng took 11-12 in BU19, and Zach Ingber took 14th place in the 64-draw divisions.
Trinity Moshi dropped just one game on the way to taking the GU19 title at the Virginia Summer Junior Gold. BU13s Ali Mansi-Schmitt and Aleksei Pilling took first and third place, respectively. Both came back from 2-1 deficits to win game four by identical 12-10 margins before taking game five. Willa Haberl took sixth place in GU17.
Luke Kim won the BU13 draw, dropping just one game to a Canadian player, at the Squash On Fire Summer Junior Silver. Dartagnan Rastogi reached the BU17 final, losing a tight match to a player from Houston. Rastogi won the BU17s at the Play Squash Academy Summer Junior Silver, and Kavish Narang took third. Narang also finished third at The St. … Continue Reading ››
Congratulations to the local juniors who were honored with the US Squash 2024-2025 Scholar Athlete Award:
Alaan Javed, First Year
Caroline Burg, Junior
Connor Bodi, First Year
Daniel Antonioli, Sophomore
Ellis Chung, Senior
John Bitar, Sophomore
Kavish Narang, Sophomore
Mariam Masoud, Sophomore
Oskar Brown, First Year
Sohan Kilaru, Sophomore
Uma Patnaik, Senior
Willa Haberl, Sophomore
Zach Ingber, First Year
The University Club’s Mosquito Open continues to draw strong draws in the only summer adult tournament in our area.
Nicolas Valderrama dominated the Open “A” division, winning all four of his matches by 3-0 scores. The closest he came to dropping a game was in the quarters, where a player from Ohio pushed him to a 14-12 score in game three. Zach Hollander reached the semis.
Alexander Quianzon triumphed in the “B” division, beating Pulkit Parikh in five games where no game was won by more than a three-point margin. Fernando Vasquez reached the semis.
Alex Greenspan won the “C” bracket without dropping a game, though Herb Allen made each game closely contested in the final.
District Inferno vs. Philadelphia Freedom
Saturday May 17th, 2025
Doors Open at 5pm – Match Starts at 6pm
Squash on Fire, 2233 M Street, NW Washington, DC 20037
See and root for DC's newest professional franchise—the District Inferno—as they battle the Philadelphia Freedom at Squash On Fire! Some of the finest female athletes in the world will compete in a new and intense team squash match in a unique new format and thrilling atmosphere.
Meet the Inferno—World #10 Amanda Sobhy; World #16 Jasmine Hutton; World # 20 Rachel Arnold; World #45 Torrie Malik; World# 47 Marie Stephan and World #67 Lisa Aiken!
The National Squash League is a new twist on squash—instead of playing individual matches of best of 5 games with 11 point games, there are three timed periods where each team can substitute players and strategically call 2 minute "Power Plays" where only their team can score. Most points in a timed period wins. … Continue Reading ››
The U.S. Junior Squash Championships is the top USA Junior tournament, and it’s open only to the leading 32 US citizens in each age group. Merely being selected for this tournament is one of the highest honors possible for a junior squash player.
Congratulations to all the NCS juniors who gained entry to this prestigious event!
BU19 Sami Garside, who improved 45 ranking spots during the season, also earned the William T. Ketcham Jr. Most Improved Award in his age group for showing extraordinary commitment to the sport while significantly improving their game.
Trinity Moshi notched the top finish among NCS juniors by taking third place in GU15, a personal best finish. Christian Keng also scored a personal best and won fifth place in the ultra competitive BU17 division.
Makeda Moshi, GU17, sixth place;
Akaisha Bhatia, GU17 quarterfinalist;
Zachary Ingber, BU17 quarterfinalist;
Elise Kang, GU19, 11th-12th;
Kian Patnaik, BU15, 13th-16th;
Calla Yim, GU19, 17th;
Shreya … Continue Reading ››
Congratulations to the NCS juniors who earned NCS sponsorships in recognition of their improvement to a national class level of competition or have moved up to a higher level of national competitiveness.
These sponsorships are provided for a player’s first national championship at each level available for competition for the U.S. Junior Squash Silver Championships or U.S. Junior Squash Championships. Players who the NCS Junior Committee estimates can compete for a top 10 finish are sponsored for their first U.S. Junior Squash Bronze Championships.
Aleksei Pilling BU13;
Jonathan Chung BU13;
Neel Sethi BU15;
Julia Lancaster GU15;
Mariam Masoud GU17;
Sophia Akbar GU17;
Arman Sana BU19;
Jaiden Saran BU19
The local championships, which concluded last month, attracted a record 253 entrants and over 370 matches were played.
The annual event is largely self-scheduled and played over several months, but the finals were played March 29 at The St. James.
Congratulations to the winners of each division:
Skill Levels
Josh Taylor—Men Open;
Uma Patnaik—Women Open;
Jordan Lipp—Men 5.0;
Ibrahim Masoud—Men 4.5;
Mariam Masoud—Women 4.5;
Bo Blair—Men 4.25;
Oscar Valdés Viera—Men 4.0;
Mariam Masoud—Women 4.0;
Oliver Mayers—Men 3.75;
Pulkit Parikh—Men 3.5;
AJ Copeland—Women 3.5;
Beckett Hogan—Men 3.0;
Lila Caddell—Women 3.0;
Giacomo Salvadore—Men 2.5;
Emma Sun—Women 2.5;
Yongmei Ye—Women 2.0;
Masters;
Sergio Lopez—Men 40+;
Omar Alvi—Men 50+;
Eduardo Rojas Vega—Men 60+;
Tawhid Nawaz—Men 70+;
Special thanks to David Keating, Ahmar Abbas, and Ben Proshek for their work to organize and run the tournament.
The league finals held in April brought a stirring end to a strong fall/winter season for the National Capital Squash league.
In the 4.0+/5.0 division, Regency A prevailed over Regency B. While Regency A finished three games ahead of its intra-club rival in the regular season, the final was a tight one, with the four matches split 2-2. Regency A took the title by winning just one more game in the matches than its competitor.
The 3.5/4.0 division featured a similarly dramatic end to the season. Though a Regency team again ran away with the regular campaign and their semifinal, Capitol Hill made the favorites work for the title, splitting the four final matches 2-2. Again, the difference came down to a single game.
Congratulations to Regency for winning both divisions.
All told, a record 135 players participated in at least one match during the season across the two divisions. A total of 109 … Continue Reading ››
