CHENNAI: The top-seeded pair of Abhay Singh and Velavan Senthilkumar lived up to their billing as they won the men's doubles crown for a third year in a row by beating second-seeded Rahul Baitha-Suraj Kumar Chand 11-8, 11-5 in the title-round of the 3rd HCL National Doubles Squash Championships held at the Indian Squash Academy here on Saturday.
Abhay was delighted with the win and credited his partner Velavan for the hat-trick of titles. "Yeah, comfortable win," he said. "Vela and me are quite dominant when it comes to the doubles. So yeah, good win, good performance," said an elated Abhay, who is the No 1 India men's player in singles.
Abhay revealed that he shares a good rapport with Velavan and that helped them dominate the doubles event. "The preparation for the tournament was quite good. I think we did some good doubles (sessions) over the last few days. Obviously, we don't play much of doubles through the year, so yeah, it was good," said Abhay.
Abhay and Velavan were in brilliant form as they complimented each other. If Abhay attacked, Velavan excelled in retrieving and vice versa. "I have a brilliant understanding with him. I mean, we've been playing doubles for like five years. But, even before that, we used to be the practice partners for our seniors. So we've grown up being good doubles players. Yeah, I think the chemistry shows," insisted Abhay.
"I think the experience, physicality. I think playing at a higher level helps. I don't think these boys (Rahil, Suraj) have played the Asian Championships yet. So you get some experience there, but it will be a good experience for them to play this year."
In many sports disciplines in the country, the federation has to continuously plead with the top players to play in the nationals. But in squash, the scene is different as the top players take part regularly.
''Yeah, I think for us, it's always been like for me personally, nationals is a tournament that inspired me when I was a younger kid. I think everyone, if they can, I know there are circumstances where a few players may be skip it when the schedule is heavy or for any other reason. But for me personally, I always make it a point to try my best to be at the nationals,'' said Abhay.
He also insisted that his focus now will be preparing for the Asian Games to be held in Japan later this year. "Yeah, I think if you ask me right now, all my focus is on the Asian Games. I haven't thought of anything else at the moment. I am waiting for the season to end, because I want to, I'm very excited to get to work in the summer. It's going to be a very brutal off-season. I think one of my most challenging ones as an athlete. And I'm excited to see what comes, you know, what comes in Japan."
Double for Joshna
Meanwhile, the evergreen Joshna Chinappa completed a fine double as she was part of both winning teams in the mixed doubles (with Senthilkumar) and women's doubles (with Rathika Seelan).