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Anahat Singh

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Anahat Singh
Full nameAnahat Singh
Country India
Born (2008-03-13) 13 March 2008 (age 16)
Delhi, India
EducationThe British School, New Delhi
Height165 cm (5 ft 5 in)
Weight45 kg (99 lb)
Turned pro2023
PlaysRight-handed
Coached by
Racquet usedDunlop
Women's singles
Highest ranking92 (November 2024)
Current ranking92 (Nov 2024)
Title(s)16
Tour final(s)17
Medal record
PSA profile
Updated on October 2024.

Anahat Singh (born 13 March 2008) is an Indian squash player.[1] She's an Asian Games double-bronze medalist. Singh is ranked 92nd in the women's world ranking, as of November 2024.[2] She has been the youngest national champion, the youngest Indian to win a medal at the Asian Games, and the youngest athlete to represent the nation at the Commonwealth Games.[3]

Early life

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Family and background

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Singh was born in Delhi on 13 March 2008 to Tani Vadehra and Gursharan Singh. While her mother is an interior designer, her father is a lawyer. Both her parents used to play field hockey.[4] Being inspired by P. V. Sindhu, a six year old Singh started playing badminton.

She used to accompany her sister Amira who played squash. After playing a few squash tournaments where she performed well, she grew fond of it and switched to the sport.[5]

Coaching

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At the beginning of her career, Singh was coached by Amjad Khan and Ashraf Hussein, which was followed by Ritwick Bhattacharya. Singh has also been coached by Stéphane Galifi and Grégory Gaultier.[6] Indian squash icon Saurav Ghosal is her mentor and helps her decide which tournaments to play.[7]

Career

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Singh rose to prominence after winning the Girls U11 title at the British Junior Open Squash in January 2019.[8] This was followed by the Girls U13 title at the Dutch Junior Open Squash in July of the same year.[9] She was also a part of the 2021–22 PSA World Tour, by virtue of reaching quarterfinals of the HCL-SRFI Indian Tour held in Noida during 4-7 September 2021.[10] In June 2022, she won the Girls U15 title of the Asian Junior Squash Individual Championships.[11] At the age of 14, she was the youngest athlete to represent India at the 2022 Commonwealth Games.[12]

At the 2023 edition of the British Junior Open Squash, Singh became the champion in Girls U15 category after beating Egypt's Sohaila Hazem in the final.[13] In August 2023, she won the Girls U17 title of the Asian Junior Squash Individual Championships 2023 held in Dalian, China.[14] This was followed by two bronze medals at the 2022 Asian Games in mixed doubles with Abhay Singh and in the women's team event.[15] Singh became the senior National Champion in November 2023 after Tanvi Khanna had to retire in the finals due to an injury.[16] She ended the year by winning the Girls U19 title at the 2023 Scottish Junior Open Squash in Edinburgh by defeating Robyn McAlpine.[17]

In January 2024, Singh finished as a runner-up in Girls U17 category at the British Junior Open after a loss to Nadien Elhammamy.[18] Later in the same month, she won her first PSA Tour title at the JSW Willingdon Little Masters & Senior Tournament by defeating Japan’s Erisa Sano Herring 11-4, 11-3 and 11-7 in the final.[19] This was followed by a win at the Hamdard Squashters Northern Slam tournament in April 2024 where Singh defeated Korea's Hwayeong Eum 3-0 (11-6, 11-4, 11-5) in the final.[20] Her third title win on the tour came in June 2024 at the HCL Squash Tour Chennai when she defeated fellow compatriot Rathika Seelan 3-0 (11-5, 11-3, 11-3) in the final.[21]

Titles and finals

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Year Tournament Opponent Result Score Ref
2019 British Junior Open Malaysia Whitney Wilson Win (1) 3–1 (13-11, 11-9, 7-11, 11-9) [22]
European Junior Open United States Avery Park Win (2) 3–0 (11-7, 11-3, 11-4) [23]
Dutch Junior Open France Lauren Baltayan Win (3) 3–2 (11-6, 11-7, 9-11, 7-11, 11-8) [24]
Scottish Junior Open Malaysia Keertty Haridharan Win (4) 3–0 (11-1, 11-1, 11-1) [25]
2020 British Junior Open Egypt Amina Orfi Loss (1) 0–3 (11-0, 11-1, 11-4) [26]
2021 US Junior Open Egypt Jayda Marei Win (5) 3–1 (11-9 11-5 8-11 11-5) [27]
2022 German Junior Open Egypt Malak Samir Win (6) 3–0 (11-1, 11-4, 11-5) [28]
Dutch Junior Open Egypt Malak Samir Win (7) 3–0 (11-4 11-7 11-2) [29]
2023 British Junior Open Egypt Sohaila Hazem Win (8) 3–1 (11-8, 8-11, 11-7, 11-5) [30]
Scottish Junior Open Scotland Robyn McAlpine Win (9) 3–0 (11-6, 11-1, 11-5) [31]
2024 British Junior Open Egypt Nadien Elhammamy Loss (2) 2–3 (7-11, 13-11, 12-10, 5-11, 11-9) [32]
JSW Willingdon LMS Tournament Japan Erisa Sano Herring Win (10) 3–0 (11-4, 11-3, 11-7) [33]
Hamdard Squashters Northern Slam South Korea Hwayeong Eum Win (11) 3–0 (11-6, 11-4, 11-5) [34]
HCL Squash Tour Chennai India Rathika Seelan Win (12) 3–0 (11-5, 11-3, 11-3) [35]
Dynam Cup SQ-Cube Open Egypt Ruqayya Salem W/O [36]
Reliance PSA Challenge 3 Tournament Sri Lanka Chanithma Sinaly Win (13) 3–0 (11-0, 11-1, 11-4) [37]
HCL Squash Tour Kolkata Philippines Jemyca Aribado Win (14) 3–0 (11-5, 11-3, 11-7) [38]
Costa North Coast Open Japan Akari Midorikawa Win (15) 3–0 (11-6, 11-6, 11-7) [39]
NSW Open Hong Kong Helen Tang Win (16) 3–1 (8-11, 11-6, 11-3, 11-4) [40]

Note: Table does not include domestic and national tournaments or title wins

Awards and nominations

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Year Award Category Result Ref
2023 Times of India Sports Awards Female Squash Player of the Year Won [41]
2024 Indian Sports Honours Sportswoman of the Year TBA

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Anahat Singh | Overview". PSA Squash Tour. Retrieved 16 September 2024.
  2. ^ Singh, Kanika (10 January 2024). "Once a Badminton Enthusiast, 15-Year-Old Anahat Singh is Now a Squash Prodigy". TheQuint. Retrieved 9 November 2024.
  3. ^ "Anahat Singh | Squash Biography". ispsquash.com. Retrieved 9 November 2024.
  4. ^ "Who is Anahat Singh – How a PV Sindhu fan became India's squash sensation". olympic.com. 21 August 2023. Retrieved 29 September 2023.
  5. ^ "CWG 2022: Meet Anahat Singh, the 14-year-old squash player making her India debut at CWG". ESPN. 28 July 2022. Retrieved 29 July 2022.
  6. ^ Venkatesan, S. Prasanna (21 November 2023). "Anahat Singh 'looks like a shrimp, but moves like a lion', says her coach Stephane Galifi". sportstar.thehindu.com. Retrieved 16 October 2024.
  7. ^ Keerthivasan, K. (7 November 2024). "Playing for experience is over, now is the time to win". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 9 November 2024.
  8. ^ "Five nations share British Junior Open honours on thrilling finals day – Professional Squash Association". psaworldtour.com. 7 January 2019. Retrieved 29 July 2022.
  9. ^ stevecubbins (14 July 2019). "Dutch Junior Open : Finals Day". SquashSite – all about Squash. Retrieved 29 July 2022.
  10. ^ "HCL SRFI Noida: Senthilkumar and Khanna Victorious Again". PSA World Tour. 7 September 2021. Retrieved 11 January 2023.
  11. ^ "Asian Junior Squash: India's Anahat Singh wins U-15 title". Free Press Journal. Retrieved 29 July 2022.
  12. ^ Nag, Utathya. "Who is Anahat Singh – How a PV Sindhu fan became India's squash sensation". Olympics. Retrieved 29 July 2022.
  13. ^ Cubbins, Steve (8 January 2023). "2023 Day Five – FINALS Day". British Junior Open. Retrieved 11 January 2023.
  14. ^ "Anahat Singh wins gold in Asian Junior Squash Championships". Sportstar. 20 August 2023. Retrieved 21 August 2023.
  15. ^ Palshikar, Prathamesh (5 October 2023). "Asian Games 2023 squash: India win two gold medals in Hangzhou - results, scores and medal winners". Olympics. Retrieved 3 January 2024.
  16. ^ "Senior National Squash C'ships: 15-year-old teenage sensation Anahat Singh becomes youngest title winner in 23 years". Hindustan Times. 23 November 2023. Retrieved 3 January 2024.
  17. ^ "Anahat Singh Wins U-19 Girls' Title at Scottish Junior Open Squash". News18. 31 December 2023. Retrieved 3 January 2024.
  18. ^ Sportstar, Team (7 January 2024). "British Junior Open 2024: Anahat Singh loses to Elhammamy in final, settles with silver; Aryaveer Dewan bags bronze". Sportstar. Retrieved 26 January 2024.
  19. ^ Banks, Jonty (17 January 2024). "Anahat & Abhay Singh capture titles at JSW Willingdon Little Masters & Senior Tournament". PSA World Tour. Retrieved 26 January 2024.
  20. ^ Nag, Utathya (27 April 2024). "Anahat Singh wins singles title at Hamdard Squashters Northern Slam 2024". Olympics. Retrieved 17 June 2024.
  21. ^ Nag, Utathya (8 June 2024). "HCL Squash Tour Chennai 2024: Anahat Singh wins third PSA title on the trot". Olympics. Retrieved 17 June 2024.
  22. ^ stevecubbins (6 January 2019). "British Junior Open 2019 : FINALS". SquashSite - all about Squash. Retrieved 9 November 2024.
  23. ^ stevecubbins (8 July 2019). "European Junior Open : Finals". SquashSite - all about Squash. Retrieved 9 November 2024.
  24. ^ "Anahat Singh and Neel Joshi wins Dutch Junior Open squash". The Times of India. ISSN 0971-8257. Retrieved 9 November 2024.
  25. ^ stevecubbins (30 December 2019). "Scottish Junior Open : Finals Day". SquashSite - all about Squash. Retrieved 9 November 2024.
  26. ^ "2020 Results List". British Junior Open. Retrieved 9 November 2024.
  27. ^ "India's Anahat Singh wins Junior US Open Squash Meet". The Times of India. ISSN 0971-8257. Retrieved 9 November 2024.
  28. ^ "Anahat wins junior squash meet in Germany". The Times of India. ISSN 0971-8257. Retrieved 9 November 2024.
  29. ^ "Champions awarded of the Dutch Junior Open 2022 – Dutch Junior Open 2024" (in Dutch). 14 July 2022. Retrieved 9 November 2024.
  30. ^ "Anahat Singh clinches U-15 British Junior Open title". The Times of India. ISSN 0971-8257. Retrieved 9 November 2024.
  31. ^ "Anahat wins U-19 girls' title at Scottish Junior Open squash". Press Trust Of India. Retrieved 9 November 2024.
  32. ^ Sportstar, Team (7 January 2024). "British Junior Open 2024: Anahat Singh loses to Elhammamy in final, settles with silver; Aryaveer Dewan bags bronze". sportstar.thehindu.com. Retrieved 9 November 2024.
  33. ^ https://olympics.com/en/news/jsw-willingdon-2024-squash-india-results-anahat-abhay-singh
  34. ^ https://olympics.com/en/news/hamdard-squashsters-northern-slam-2024-india-results-anahat-singh-suraj
  35. ^ https://olympics.com/en/news/hcl-squash-tour-chennai-2024-anahat-singh-women-singles-winner-results
  36. ^ https://thesquashsite.com/dynam-cup-sq-cube-open-2024
  37. ^ "Squash Info | Women's Reliance PSA Challenge 3 Tournament 2024 | Squash". www.squashinfo.com. Retrieved 8 November 2024.
  38. ^ https://olympics.com/en/news/hcl-squash-tour-kolkata-2024-anahat-singh-women-singles-winner-results
  39. ^ https://sportstar.thehindu.com/squash/anahat-singh-wins-costa-north-coast-open-title-psa-challenger-event-squash-news-updates/article68825802.ece/
  40. ^ "Anahat Singh's stellar season rolls on with seventh PSA Challenger title at NSW Open 2024". Olympics.
  41. ^ "TOISA 2023 Nominees: Squash stars in the fray for top honours". The Times of India. ISSN 0971-8257. Retrieved 4 November 2024.
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