Squash: India
This is a collection of articles archived for the excellence of their content. |
Asian Juniors/ U-15
2022
Anahat Singh wins Asian junior squash title in U-15 category
Promising Indian player Anahat Singh won the gold medal in the girls Under-15 category at the Asian Juniors Squash Championships in Pattaya, Thailand. The tournament, which started in the picturesque beach town on Wednesday, concluded. The 14-year-old Anahat defeated Kwong Ena of Hong Kong 3-0 in the final to claim the top prize.
Asian Junior Team Squash Championship
2023
India loses to Pakistan in final
February 13, 2023: The Times of India
India lose to Pakistan in Asian junior squash meet: The Indian team went down 0-2 to Pakistan in the men’s final of the 21st Asian Junior Team Squash Championship in Chennai. In the clash between the top-seeded Pakistan and the secondseeded home team, the former came out on top with Noor Zaman and Muhammad Hamza Khan securing the wins.
Asian Junior Squash Championship
2023
A
August 21, 2023: The Times of India
Anahat Singh clinches gold in Asian Jr Squash
Dalian (China): Anahat Singh clinched the gold in the U-17 category of the Asian Junior Squash Individual Championships. The 15-yearold Anahat defeated Hong Kong’s Ena Kwong 3-1 in the final.
Asian Team Championship
2021
A
Kuala Lumpur: The Indian men and women booked semifinal berths at the 20th Asian squash Team Championship with wins in their final league matches. While the Indian men’s team routed Indonesia 3-0, the women put it across Iran 3-0.
B: Indian men reach final
Asian Team Squash: Indian men reach final
Kuala Lumpur: The topseeded Indian men booked a spot in the final of the 20th Asian squash Team Championship with a 2-0 win over Hong Kong in the semifinals. However, the women’s team, seeded third, went down 1-2 to Hong Kong in the semifinals despite the No.1 player Joshna Chinappa giving them the lead.
Batch Open
2024
A
Senthil enters Batch Open squash final
New Delhi: Velavan Senthilkumar brushed aside Hong Kong’s Andes Ling to enter the final of the Batch Open squash tournament in Paris. Senthil, who is No. 58 in the world, won his semifinal match 11-2, 11-1, 11-6 in 22 minutes. He will face Frenchman Melvil Scianimanico for the title.
British Junior Open
2023
January 9, 2023: The Times of India
Birimingham : India’s fastrising squash player Anahat Singh won the girls under-15 title at the prestigious British Junior open here. The 14-year-old, who was India’s youngest athlete at the Commonwealth Games last year, beat Sohaila Hazem of Egypt 3-1 in the final.
The British Junior open is held in January every year. This year, it was held after a gap of two years due to Covid-19. In the quarter-finals, Anahat beat Harleen Tan of Malaysia 3-0 before blanking Malak Samir of Egypt 3-0 in the semifinals . This was her third final at the British Junior Open. Anahat had won the under-11 title in 2019 and finished runner-up the year after in the girls under-13 category. The India player will now be preparing for the Asian Junior team championships, to be held in Chennai in Feb. PTI
German Junior Open
2022
Anahat wins junior squash meet in Germany:
Anahat Singh continued her winning streak and clinched the German Junior Open Squash Championship Super Series event at Hamburg. In the finals, the 14-year-old from Delhi beat Malak Samir of Egypt 3-0 in the girls U-15 category. She reached the finals, beating Malaysian top seed Whitney Isabelle Wilson 3-1 in the semifinals and Savannah Moxham of Belgium in the quarters. AGENCIES
Malaysian Open
2021: Saurav Ghosal wins title
Saurav Ghosal wins Malaysian Open squash tournament:
Indian squash player Saurav Ghosal won his first PSA title in three years when he triumphed at the Malaysian Open with a straight set win over top seed Miguel Rodriguez in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday. Second seed and ranked 15th in the world, Ghosal defeated Rodriguez 11-7 11-8 13-11 in 55 minutes to win his 10th PSA title. AGENCIES
PSA World doubles championships
2022
Dipika teams up with Saurav, Joshna for World doubles titles in squash
Dipika Pallikal may have been off the sport for over three years but the 30-year-old returned to competitive squash in style as she played a part in India winning two gold medals — their first-ever — at the PSA World doubles championships in Glasgow on Saturday. Dipika first teamed up with Saurav Ghosal to pocket the mixed doubles gold defeating the English pair — Adrian Waller and Alison Waters 11-6, 11-8. Dipika then teamed up with Joshna Chinappa in the women’s doubles final to get the better of England’s Sarah-Jane and Alison Waters 11-9, 4-11, 11-8, reports Prasad R S.
World Cup
2023
A
Bhuvan Gupta, June 17, 2023: The Times of India
Chennai: The air was expectant with upcoming jubilation. Everyone at the Express Avenue mall was looking forward to the moment India made it to the final. Everyone, but the Malaysians. They didn’t get the script. Up against the higher-ranked hosts and an irrepressible crowd, fourth seeds Malaysia played out of their skins to stun India 3-0 and knock them out of the competition. While Malaysia will face favourites Egypt in the summit clash of the Squash World Cup, the shell-shocked home side will have to make do with a joint br onze medal along with fellow semifinal losers Japan.
It all started with World No. 149’s Ong Sai Hung’s triumph against World No. 62 Abhay Singh. Hung dominantly clinched the first game, nev er giving a chance to the Indian to gain a foothold. In the second game, Abhay capitalized on a series of forehand errors from Hung to inch ahead and took off from there. He employed powerfuld rives to pull Hung to the back end and then sprung out delicate drops to take him apart in the third game.
The Malaysian, though, came back strongly in the fourth game, kept sending Abhay the wrong way with his deceptively placed drives to force a decider. In a nervejangler of a fifth game, Abhay failed to convert two match points and Hung prevailed by the barest of margins to win the match 7-4, 5-7, 1-7, 7-1, 7-6.
The second match of the tie saw the precocious 18-year-old Aira Azman taking on the 36-year-old Joshna Chinappa. Aira made a flying start, finding the open spaces with effortless ease to routinely wrong-foot Joshna. The Chennai girl tried to mount a comeback, winning the third game, but Aira was in no mood to let up. The youngster also benefited f rom a number of contentious decisions by the referees, which clearly left Joshna displeased.
A7-3, 7-3, 5-7, 7-4 victory to Aira meant India’s other veteran player Saurav Ghosal was tasked with a must-win to keep the hosts in the hunt. Unfortunately, he had picked up an injury the previous day and came out with a bandaged right knee, due to which his on-court movement was hampered. His opponent Darren Pragasam took advantage and took his team into the final with a 7-5, 2-7, 7-6, 7-5 win.
World Junior Championships
2024
A
Bawa assures India medal in World Jr squash
New Delhi: India’s Shaurya Bawa guaranteed himself of a medal as he moved to the semifinals with a hard fought 3-2 win over Malaysian Low Wa-Sern in the World Junior Squash Championships in Houston. The 18-year-old from Delhi, thus, becomes only the second Indian male to reach the semifinals after Kush Kumar, who reached the last four stage in 2014. With the win, Bawa set up a semifinal clash with Egyptian top-seed Mohamed Zakaria. Meanwhile, compatriot Anahat Singh bowed out from the girls’ quarterfinals for a third straight year.
B
Bawa settles for bronze at World Junior squash:
Shaurya Bawa signed off with a bronze medal after going down 0-3 to Egyptian top seed Mohamed Zakaria in the boys’ singles semifinal of the World Junior Squash Championships in Houston. Bawa lost 5-11 5-11 9-11 to last year’s runner-up Zakaria in a thrilling 41-minute semifinal contest. Bawa is only the second Indian male after Kush Kumar (in 2014) to reach the World Junior semifinals.
2014
Dec 31 2014
SQUASHING SUCCESS (DIPIKA PALLIKAL, JOSHANA CHINAPPA, SAURAV GHOSAL & HARINDER SANDHU)
2014 was a watershed year for Indian squash. Firstly, the combine of Dipika Pallikal and Joshana Chinappa pocketed India's first-ever CWG gold. The Tamil Nadu girls promise much in the coming year too. At Incheon, Saurav Ghosal choked on the cusp of history, missing out on an individual gold, when he lost to Kuwait's Abdullah Al-Muzayen in the final after leading by two games. He also squandered a match point.
But the 28-year-old made up for the heartbreak by leading the Indian team of Kush Kumar, Mahesh Mangaonkar and Harinder Pal Sandhu to a maiden Asian Games gold.
2017
Junior Squash
India clinches gold in Asian junior squash
India clinch gold in Asian junior squash, Feb 06 2017: The Times of India
Top seed India defeated Malaysia 2-0 to win the gold medal in the boy's team event at the Asian Junior Squash championship.
Indian boys had won the title for the second time, the earlier being in 2011 when they defeated arch-rivals Pakistan in Colombo.
Fresh from his Asian in dividual and British Junior Open successes, India's no.1 player Velavan Senthilkumar first defeated second seed Malaysia's Ong Sai Hun in quick time. Then Abhay Singh prevailed over Darren Rahul in hard-fought five games to lift the title for India.
2018
Asian Junior Individual Squash Championships
3 Indians in quarterfinals
September 27, 2018: The Times of India
Three Indians – Utkarsh Baheti, Rutvik Rau and Tushar Shahani – moved into the quarterfinals in the U-19 boys’ section on the opening day of the Asian Junior Individual Squash Championships here on Wednesday. However, there was disappointment in store for Rahul Baitha – the other Indian in the fray – after he went down to Pakistan’s Abbas Zeb 7-11, 7-11, 9-11.
Zeb, who is Pakistan’s most experienced player among the current lot, had a minor hiccup early on when he was trailing 6-7, but fought back with five straight points to clinch the opening game. The next two games followed a similar pattern, with Rahul staying in the contest till the halfway stage of both games. But when it really mattered, Zeb just had too much in the reserve for his Indian counterpart.
At the same time, Rahul’s tendency to make unforced errors also contributed to his early exit.
While Rahul was unable to raise his game and move ahead, compatriot Utkarsh notchedup a hard-fought11-8,7-11, 11-4, 12-10 victory over Pakistan’s Uzair Shaukat. He will now face Zeb in the quarterfinals on Thursday.
Rutvik also had a confidence-boosting 11-6, 11-1, 11-3 victory against Malaysia’s Pheshant Sri Nagesh on Wednesday, but he faces a daunting battle against top seed Siow Yee Xian of Malaysia in the last-eight stage. The Malaysian brushed aside Qatar’s Hamad Mohammad Al Amri 11-3, 11-6, 11-6 in the second round.
Ghosal rises to career-high 11th
October 4, 2018: The Times of India
Indian squash player Saurav Ghosal has risen one rung to a career-high 11th in the latest world rankings. Also moving up was veteran Joshna Chinappa, who jumped two positions to be 14th in the rankings for women. She is now just four spots away from clinching her career-best 10th spot, achieved a little less than two years ago. However, Dipika Pallikal Karthik dropped four rungs to be on 23. Harinder Pal Sandhu improved to 57th from 60th, while Ramit Tandon took the 59th position, an improvement of five rungs. (The Times of India)
2019
Asian Individual Championship
Ghosal, Chinappa enter final
Ghosal, Chinappa storm into final Kuala Lumpur:
The two stars of Indian squash -- the men's top seed Saurav Ghosal and reigning champion Joshna Chinappa -- stormed into the final of the Asian Individual Squash Championship with convincing semifinal victories here on Saturday. Women's second seed Joshna defeated sixth seed Sivasangari Subramaniam of Malaysia 11-7, 12-10, 11-3 while Ghosal ousted the seventh seed Eain Yow Ng of Malaysia 11-2, 11-6, 11-4.
Saurav, Joshna win Asian titles
May 6, 2019: The Times of India
Saurav, Joshna win titles
Kuala Lumpur:
In a memorable day for India, Saurav Ghosal and Joshna Chinappa won the individual titles in the Asian Squash Championship here Sunday. Joshna Chinappa, the second seed, successfully defended her title, beating the top seed Annie Au of Hong Kong 11-5, 8-11,11-6,11-6 in thesummitclash.
Ghosal, the top seed and finalist last year, ensured there was no slip this time when he downed the fourth seed Leo Au Chun Ming, also of Hong Kong, in straight games11-9,11-2,11-8.
It easily was one of Joshna's most memorable matches. Only last month in the Macau Open, Annie had beaten her in straight games for her 12th win in 20 meetings between the two.
In fact, not since September 2017 in the Hong Kong International Open has Joshna tasted success against the Hong Kong player. All that was set aside as the Indian played with a fixity of purpose and with lot of conviction.
She slipped in the second to send jitters in the Indian camp but recovered superbly to beat all of Annie's designs and carve out a win.
“I thought I really played well in the final. I had lost to Annie few times prior to this. So I had come prepared,” Joshna said after the win.
Ghosal, on his part, never allowed anything to go astray as he meticulously worked his way to a convincing win. Except for the first and to some extent in the third, there was little that the Hong Kong player could do in terms of a fight as Ghosal covered himself with glory, his maiden success at this level. PTI
Black Ball Open, Cairo
Joshna beats Nicol for third time
March 14, 2019: The Times of India
India's leading squash player Joshna Chinappa pulled off a sensational win over eight-time world champion Nicol David in a first round match of the $07,000 Women's Black Ball Squash Open here. The Indian, playing with a lot of fire and purpose, got the better of the Malaysian legend 11-8, 11-6, 12-10 in a match.
It was Joshna's third win over 21st-ranked Nicol, who will retire at the end of the season. The 16th-ranked Indian had also beaten Nicol during the 2018 Asian Games in Indonesia.
Joshna wins record 17th national title
Kabeer Khan, June 17, 2019: The Times of India
Joshna wins record 17th national title
Pune: Joshna Chinappa
defeated Tamil Nadu’s Sunayna Kuruvilla 11-5, 11-4, 7-11, 11-5 to win her 17th senior national crown on Sunday. With the win, Joshna has now won a record number of national titles, eclipsing Rajasthan’s Bhuvneshwari Kumari’s mark of 16. Bhuvneshwari had held the record for 27 years, having won consecutive championships from 1976 to 1991.
Sunayna, 19, never looked like a challenge to Joshna, who showed no complacency whatsoever. “I have looked at the nationals as something very prestigious. I have always wanted to play it and I told myself that I’ll play as many as I can,” she told TOI .
“Nationals are something you look forward to when growing up. And when you get a chance to play something like this, I don’t know why you should not do it even after reaching a great level,” said Joshna. “Whenever I am fit, I will play the nationals,” she added.
The last decade of female squash in India has known just two names: Joshna and Dipika Pallikal. The latter has not featured in many tournaments lately, but the duo has been largely dominant.
2020
National championship
Saurav, Joshana run away with Nat’l titles
Chennai:
Delhi’s Tanvi Khanna was all of four years old when Joshana Chinappa won her first senior national squash championship. Considering the gulf in class and experience between the two players who are at vastly different stages of their careers, it was no surprise then that Joshana ended up on the winning side 8-11, 11-6,11-4,11-7toclaim her 18th national squash title at the Indian Squash Academy here on Saturday. No Indian player has won more titles than the 33-year-old, who won her first Nationals way back in 2000 at the age of just 14. Saurav Ghosal, meanwhile, breezed through the men’s final with a 11-6, 11-5, 11-6 victory against Maharashtra’s Abhishek Pradhan to win his 13th national crown.
Pittsburgh Open squash tournament
Pittsburg Open: Ghosal enters semis
India’s Saurav Ghosal has progressed to the semifinal of the Pittsburgh Open squash tournament with an easy win over Cesar Salazar of Mexico. The Indian, seeded second, defeated his sixth seeded Mexican rival 11-8, 11-6, 11-8 in the quarterfinal of the PSA World tour event. Ghosal, who got a bye in the first round, had a relatively tough second round encounter against England’s Nathan Lake.
Ghosal loses in final
Ghosal loses in final of Pittsburgh Open squash tournament
Pittsburgh (USA): Saurav Ghosal failed to notch up his maiden PSA world tour event title as he suffered a straight-game 7-11, 4-11, 9-11 defeat to top seed Fares Dessouky of Egypt in the final of the Pittsburgh Open squash tournament.
PSA rankings
2019: Ghosal no. 10 (first Indian); Joshna no.15
Ghosal becomes first Indian to enter top-10 in men’s PSA rankings, April 2, 2019: The Times of India
Saurav Ghosal became the first Indian male squash player to enter the top-10 in the latest PSA world rankings. Two Indian women squash players — Joshna Chinappa and Dipika Pallikal — had earlier reached top-10 in the world rankings.
Riding on his recent performances, Ghosal has moved up two places to a career-high ranking of 10. Ghosal made it to the quarterfinals of the 2018-2019 PSA World Championships in Chicago, USA for the first time in his career. He was also a quarterfinalist at the prestigious Grasshopper Cup in Zurich, Switzerland.
In the women’s rankings, Joshna continued to be the bestranked Indian, moving up to the 15th position.
2020: Joshna in top-10
India’s squash star Joshna Chinappa has broken back into the top-10 of the PSA world rankings following the shock retirement of Egyptian world No. 1 Raneem El Welily. Joshna, who has not played since March due to the pandemic, moved up a spot to be in 10th position. The 33-year-old had entered the top-10 for the first time in 2016. Dipika Pallikal is the other Indian female player who has achieved the fea
