CHENNAI: As teen star Anahat Singh scored the winning point against Hong Kong in the World Cup final on Sunday, the team and the crowd at the Express Avenue Mall, here broke into celebrations. While the win itself was historic, the timing could not be more perfect. It gives a massive confidence boost in the lead up to an important 2026 with both Asian Games (in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan) and Commonwealth Games (in Glasgow, Scotland) slated to happen next year.
With squash part of both multi-game events, India will back themselves to do well and go all the way this time. In previous outings in both games, India won bronze medals in singles and doubles events.
Former national coach and present secretary general of the Squash Rackets Federation of India (SRFI) Cyrus Poncha felt that the WC win is a right step towards their bigger goals. "Going into the Asian Games and the Commonwealth Games (next year) and the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles, (Wins like in WC) are just little markers to where we are and how we hope to progress. If we have to look at just one year, all four of these players I believe are moving in the right direction,” Poncha said.
The new season is set to begin from January next year, with a few PSA tours scheduled in the United States of America. This World Cup victory would be crucial for veteran and former number 10 Joshna Chinappa in her goal to represent India at the Asian Games. “Joshna has not been playing too many international competitions. She's played a few PSA events (in India) and she reached the final and lost 3-2 to Anahat in both of them. It shows Joshna is still up there. She has to be smart about how she's managing the events. Her target is the Asian Games. That way, defeating Hong Kong in the final is mentally massive for her,” he said.
WC a rehearsal to Asiad, says Velavan
There is no better World Cup debut for multiple Asian Championship winner Velavan Senthilkumar. After helping India with the all-important start by winning the first match against Egypt’s Ibrahim Elbakkani, Senthilkumar saw his teammates dominate the court in the final on Sunday.
With Asian rivals like Japan, Malaysia and finalists Hong Kong taking part in this World Cup, Senthilkumar felt that this would help them know their opponents better. “It was just like a rehearsal for the Asian Games because the Asian teams did come out with most of their top players, if not all. But of course, there are different formats to it. We do have different events at the Asian Games as well. But I feel like this event gave us a chance to see what the other teams are performing and where we stand with them. I'm sure we can say that we are pretty confident that we can get the title at the Asian Games as well,” Senthilkumar said. "This win gives us a boost in terms of confidence for all four of us to push forward for another win at the Asiad. With the PSA tour starting from January we will be competing with top players keeping Asian Games at the back of our heads because that's the next time we'll be playing as a team and for the country specifically. I'm hoping that all of us will do a great job,” he added