CHENNAI: TAMIL Nadu’s Abhay Singh and Velavan Senthilkumar will face each other in the final of the 79th National Squash Championships, in Chennai on Thursday. In the women’s final, Anahat Singh will meet her fellow Delhi player Tanvi Khanna.
Singh, ranked 63rd in the world rankings, defeated Maharashtra’s Suraj Chand 11-6, 11-2, 11-3 to make it to the summit clash, while Asian Games gold medallist Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu fell short in another semifinal against Senthilkumar in 11-7, 11-7, 11-8.
In the women’s category, Maharashtra’s Urvashi Joshi fought well against Anahat, but couldn’t get past the teenager who bagged the match 11-7, 11-3, 11-8. Similarly, Khanna eased past Tamil Nadu’s Rathika Suthanthira Seelan 11-1, 11-5, 11-8.
This is the first national championship since the inclusion of squash in the Olympics. “It’s a dream for all athletes (to represent their country in the Olympics) and it could come true for me. It’s the biggest of all games and I really hope to be a part of it,” Singh told this daily after Squash’s inclusion in the Olympics.