Tara Bhandare, 11, of The Cathedral & John Connon School (Fort), with support from her aunt Rhea Bhandare, a former Indian squash player and junior girls’ national champion, produced a gallant fighting performance to overcome the first hurdle, defeating Divyana Chikhal of Jamnabai Narsee HS (Juhu) 5-11, 11-8, 11-1 in a girls’ U-13 opening round match of the MSSA inter-school squash tournament at the Bombay Gymkhana courts on Tuesday.

The sprightly Tara was cool and confident and did not look flustered despite having to come off the court to fix a problem with her protective eyewear which came lose before the start of her match. Tara was slow to get off the blocks as Divyana raced to a 6-0 lead.