NEW YORK – 2023 College Squash Association (CSA) National Champion Simmi Chan made a run to the semifinals of this year's CSA Individual Championships as part of the Ramsay Cup, but fell just one match short of competing for her second national title with a loss to Stanford's Riya Nivani on Monday afternoon at Grand Central Station.
 
As the No. 2 overall seed in the Ramsay Cup bracket, Chan posted three victories to advance to the semifinal match on Monday at Grand Central Station. Chan defeated Maria Clara Ramirez Velasquez (Dartmouth), Hannah Chukwu (Trinity) and Meagan Best (Virginia) in the first three rounds held at Open Squash – FiDi.
 
Navani started Monday's semifinal match strong by taking the first two games, 11-9, 11-9. Chan answered back for a 11-7 victory in the third game to avoid the sweep and stay alive. Chan then outlasted Navani, 16-14 in a grueling fourth game that went down to the wire to force a deciding fifth game. Chan and Navani went back and forth throughout the fifth game, but Navani ultimately pulled away for an 11-9 victory that clinched her spot in the championship match on Tuesday.
 
Shaurya Bawa, Arhan Chandra, Imad Athar, Varun Fuloria and Eva Salzman also competed at the CSA Individual Championships this weekend. Bawa and Chandra represented the men's team in the Pool Trophy bracket. Athar and Fuloria competed in the Molloy Cup bracket, while Salzman represented the women's squad in the Holleran Cup draw.
 
Bawa and Chandra both lost their first-round matches in the Pool Trophy draw. Bawa bounced back with a win in consolation to advance to the consolation quarterfinals before losing. Chandra rebounded for two victories in the consolation draw to advance to the consolation semifinals before falling to Yale's Maxwell Orr in five games.
 
Athar, Fuloria and Salzman also lost their first matches of competition in the Molloy Cup and Holleran Cup brackets. Fuloria registered two wins in consolation to win the Molloy North consolation draw. Athar advanced to the consolation final of the Molloy South draw, but fell to Trinity's Dmytro Shcherbakov. Salzman won the Holleran East consolation draw with a win in four games against Gurlin Kaur (Franklin and Marshall).
 
UP NEXT
Columbia is back in action as a team this weekend for a set of road contests at Trinity and Yale. The Lions face Trinity on Saturday at 1:30 p.m. before finishing the weekend with a 12 p.m. contest at Yale on Sunday.
 
FOLLOWING THE LIONS
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