Thane-based Rahul Baitha justified his top seeding by clinching the men’s title at the 7th NSCI Squash Open on Wednesday. Interestingly, Baitha, 24, was given top billing after Hangzhou Asian Games team gold medal-winning player Abhay Singh withdrew due to a twisted ankle last week. In the final, Baitha registered a 3-2 win over third seed Om Semwal. In the semi-finals, he defeated fourth seed Vaibhav Porwal 3-2. 

Baitha felt Singh’s presence in the tournament would have been great for the juniors and him too. “All my matches were okay, no one troubled me but they were all good matches. Of course, playing Abhay [Singh] in the tournament would have been great, not just for the juniors, but me as well,” Baitha, a JSW academy kid, who now trains at the Top Squash Academy under Kunal Singh, told www.mid-day.com.