Malaysian Ameeshenraj Chandaran shocked No.2 seed Velavan Senthilkumar of India on a sweltering day in Solihull as the British Open squash qualifiers began at the Solihull Arden Club.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sixty-four 64 players are competing this week at Solihull Arden, with the winners of the qualification tournament set to earn a spot in the main draw of the Diamond-level event, which will take place at \u2018the Rep\u2019 Theatre in Birmingham.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
World No.78 Chandaran went into the match ranked 29 places below Senthilkumar, though he had claimed a win in the pair\u2019s last meeting in the Indian Open.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Senthilkumar made the better start to the match, taking the opener 11-6.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Chandaran hit back hard, though, edging a pair of hotly-contested tie breaks to move into a 2-1 lead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Senthilkumar struggled from here, finding it difficult to deal with Chandaran\u2019s pace, as the Malaysian closed out 11-2 to book his spot in the second round against Sotuh Africa\u2019s Dewald van Niekerk, who defeated New Zealand\u2019s Oliver Dunbar 3-0.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019ve always played well at the British Open, and I was confident coming into it. It feels good to do it again,\u201d Chandaran said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019ve always struggled with being consistent, but I think I\u2019m starting to push the top 50-60, and I\u2019ve been getting some more wins now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI lost to Dewald last time we played, but I\u2019m playing well and I\u2019m excited for tomorrow!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the women\u2019s draw, Spain\u2019s Noa Romero claimed one of the biggest wins of her career to date as the World No.75 took down World No.47 Ainaa Amani of Malaysia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In a tough opening game, Romero held her nerve, saving two game balls when trailing 10-8 to force a tie break, then saving another before eventually claiming the opener 14-12.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That win appeared to give Romero confidence. The World No.75 \u2013 who came into the match with a point to prove after a disappointing showing in her last match in England, a 3-1 defeat to Swiss World No.94 Ambre Allickx in the first round of the World Championship qualifiers \u2013 took the game to Amani, claiming game two 11-5 and sealing the victory with an 11-9 win in game three.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Afterwards, Romero said: \u201cShe\u2019s the highest ranked player I\u2019ve ever beaten so I\u2019m excited to get this win! <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI would never have expected to be playing a Dimond at this stage after turning pro, I\u2019m really excited for the next round.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cTo come through qualifying and play [on the glass court at the Rep] would be a dream come true!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Elsewhere, Malik siblings Perry and Bailey played out an entertaining match. The brothers, incredibly just two of five Malik siblings contesting the British Open this year (Bailey, Curtis, Heston, Perry and Torrie) were evenly matched in their opening game, with Perry recovering from 8-3 down to eventually claim an 11-9 win before cruising through games two and three 11-4, 11-5.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Another high-flying sibling was Mohamed Gohar, brother to Egypt squash legend and three-time British Open champion Nouran, who saved two match balls in an epic five gamer against compatriot Mohamed Sharaf.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There was a rankings upset in the final match of the day, as World No.173 Yusuf Sheikh of England held his nerve to see off injury-hit World No.47 Ryunosuke Tsukue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Round One Results<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Men\u2019s: <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n [16] Emyr Evans (WAL) bt. Yannik Omlor (GER) 3-0: 11-6, 11-3, 11-2 (22m) Women\u2019s<\/strong>: <\/p>\n\n\n\n Farida Walid (EGY) bt. [13] Madeleine Hylland (NOR)\u00a03-0: 11-7, 11-7, 11-5 (29m) Malaysian Ameeshenraj Chandaran shocked No.2 seed Velavan Senthilkumar of India on a sweltering day in Solihull as the<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13151,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[37],"class_list":["post-13150","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsbeat","tag-squash"],"aioseo_notices":[],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Ameeshenraj-Chandaran-.jpg",2560,1580,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Ameeshenraj-Chandaran--150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Ameeshenraj-Chandaran--300x185.jpg",300,185,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Ameeshenraj-Chandaran--768x474.jpg",640,395,true],"large":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Ameeshenraj-Chandaran--1024x632.jpg",640,395,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Ameeshenraj-Chandaran--1536x948.jpg",1536,948,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Ameeshenraj-Chandaran--2048x1264.jpg",2048,1264,true],"morenews-large":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Ameeshenraj-Chandaran--825x575.jpg",825,575,true],"morenews-medium":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Ameeshenraj-Chandaran--590x410.jpg",590,410,true]},"author_info":{"info":["admin"]},"category_info":"Newsbeat<\/a>","tag_info":"Newsbeat","comment_count":"0","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Ameeshenraj-Chandaran-.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13150","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13150"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13150\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13152,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13150\/revisions\/13152"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13151"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13150"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13150"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13150"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
[6] Salman Khalil (EGY) bt. Daniel Poleshchuk (ISR)\u00a03-0: 11-3, 11-6, 11-3 (27m)
[11] Yassin Shohdy (EGY) bt. Dylan Molinaro (AUS)\u00a03-0: 11-4, 11-3, 11-4 (30m)
[14] Dewald van Niekerk (RSA) bt. Oliver Dunbar (NZL)\u00a03-0: 12-10, 11-5, 11-5 (48m)
[1] Adrian Waller (ENG) bt. Owain Taylor (WAL)\u00a03-0: 11-8, 11-7, 13-11 (43m)
[10] David Bernet (SUI) bt. Duncan Lee (MAS)\u00a03-0: 11-9, 14-12, 11-7 (43m)
[13] Muhammad Asim Khan (PAK) bt. Finnlay Withington (ENG)\u00a03-0: 11-5, 11-9, 11-4 (34m)
Ameeshenraj Chandaran (MAS) bt. [2] Velavan Senthilkumar (IND)\u00a03-1: 6-11, 15-13, 12-10, 11-2 (62m)
[8] Samuel Osborne \u2013 Wylde (ENG) bt. Dylan Roberts (ENG)\u00a03-0: 11-7, 11-3, 11-6 (38m)
[15] Matthew Lai (HKG) bt. Elijah Thomas (NZL)\u00a03-0: 11-9, 11-9, 11-9 (50m)
Adam Hawal (EGY) bt. [4] Henry Leung (HKG)\u00a03-1: 11-3, 11-8, 9-11, 11-9 (67m)
[9] Perry Malik (ENG) bt. Bailey Malik (ENG)\u00a03-0: 11-9, 11-4, 11-5 (31m)
[3] Balazs Farkas (HUN) bt. Heston Malik (ENG)\u00a03-1: 11-7, 11-4, 3-11, 12-10 (51m)
Mohamed Gohar (EGY) bt. [12] Mohamed Sharaf (EGY)\u00a03-2: 12-10, 6-11, 11-7, 6-11, 14-12 (64m)
[7] Sanjay Jeeva (MAS) bt. Rui Soares (POR)\u00a03-1: 5-11, 11-8, 11-6, 11-8 (51m)
Yusuf Sheikh (ENG) bt. [5] Ryunosuke Tsukue (JPN) 3-0: 11-8, 11-5, 11-7 (24m)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
[11] Toby Tse (HKG) bt. Ella Jane Lash (NZL) 3-0: 11-7, 11-1, 11-7 (20m)
Noa Romero (ESP) bt. [9] Ainaa Amani (MAS)\u00a03-0: 14-12, 11-5, 11-9 (34m)
[3] Habiba Hani (EGY) bt. Tanvi Khanna (IND)\u00a03-1: 11-5, 14-12, 8-11, 11-5 (48m)
[5] Joelle King (NZL) bt. Olivia Besant (ENG)\u00a03-1: 9-11, 11-6, 11-3, 11-1 (27m)
[8] Tsz-Wing Tong (HKG) bt. Olivia Owens (ENG)\u00a03-1: 10-12, 11-8, 11-4, 11-8 (41m)
[4] Lauren Baltayan (FRA) bt. Emily Coulcher-Porter (ENG)\u00a03-1: 11-7, 11-7, 5-11, 11-8 (38m)
[7] Nicole Bunyan (CAN) bt. Alison Thomson (SCO)\u00a03-0: 11-4, 11-5, 11-4 (27m)
[16] Millie Tomlinson (ENG) bt. Wai Yhann Au Yeong (SGP)\u00a03-2: 8-11, 11-7, 11-5, 7-11, 11-7 (60m)
[15] Ruqayya Salem (EGY) bt. Madison Lyon (AUS)\u00a03-0: 11-6, 11-2, 11-2 (23m)
[1] Haya Ali (EGY) bt. Menna Walid (EGY)\u00a03-1: 11-8, 8-11, 11-9, 11-5 (36m)
[6] Alina Bushma (UKR) bt. Kiera Marshall (ENG)\u00a03-0: 11-6, 11-4, 11-4 (29m)
Saskia Beinhard (GER) bt. [10] Cindy Merlo (SUI)\u00a03-2: 5-11, 11-5, 7-11, 11-9, 11-6 (45m)
[2] Jana Swaify (EGY) bt. Mariam Eissa (ENG)\u00a03-0: 11-3, 11-6, 11-3 (16m)
Asia Harris (ENG) bt. [12] Hayley Ward (RSA)\u00a03-1: 8-11, 11-3, 11-7, 11-5 (36m)
[14] Kaitlyn Watts (NZL) bt. Nour Khafagy (EGY)\u00a03-1: 11-9, 11-13, 13-11, 12-10 (56m<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"