Anahat Singh

Last updated

Anahat Singh
Full nameAnahat Singh
CountryFlag of India.svg  India
Born (2008-03-13) 13 March 2008 (age 16)
Delhi, India
Education The British School, New Delhi
Height165 cm (5 ft 5 in)
Weight45 kg (99 lb)
Turned pro2023
PlaysRight-handed
Coached by
Racquet used Dunlop
Women's singles
Highest ranking86 (November 2024)
Current ranking 86 (Nov 2024)
Title(s)17
Tour final(s)18
Medal record
PSA profile
Updated on November 2024.

Anahat Singh (born 13 March 2008) is an Indian squash player. [1] She's an Asian Games double-bronze medalist. Singh is ranked 86th 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]

Contents

Early life

Family and background

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

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

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

YearTournamentOpponentResultScoreRef(s)
2019 British Junior Open Flag of Malaysia.svg Whitney Wilson Win (1)3–1 (13-11, 11-9, 7-11, 11-9) [22] [23]
European Junior Open Flag of the United States.svg Avery Park Win (2)3–0 (11-7, 11-3, 11-4) [24]
Dutch Junior Open Flag of France.svg Lauren Baltayan Win (3)3–2 (11-6, 11-7, 9-11, 7-11, 11-8) [25]
Scottish Junior Open Flag of Malaysia.svg Keertty Haridharan Win (4)3–0 (11-1, 11-1, 11-1) [26]
2020 British Junior Open Flag of Egypt.svg Amina Orfi Loss (1)0–3 (11-0, 11-1, 11-4) [27]
2021 US Junior Open Flag of Egypt.svg Jayda Marei Win (5)3–1 (11-9 11-5 8-11 11-5) [28]
2022German Junior Open Flag of Egypt.svg Malak Samir Win (6)3–0 (11-1, 11-4, 11-5) [29]
Dutch Junior Open Flag of Egypt.svg Malak Samir Win (7)3–0 (11-4 11-7 11-2) [30]
2023 British Junior Open Flag of Egypt.svg Sohaila Hazem Win (8)3–1 (11-8, 8-11, 11-7, 11-5) [31]
Scottish Junior Open Flag of Scotland.svg Robyn McAlpine Win (9)3–0 (11-6, 11-1, 11-5) [32]
2024 British Junior Open Flag of Egypt.svg Nadien Elhammamy Loss (2)2–3 (7-11, 13-11, 12-10, 5-11, 11-9) [33]
JSW Willingdon LMS Flag of Japan.svg Erisa Sano Herring Win (10)3–0 (11-4, 11-3, 11-7) [34]
Hamdard Squashters Northern Slam Flag of South Korea.svg Hwayeong Eum Win (11)3–0 (11-6, 11-4, 11-5) [35]
HCL Squash Tour Chennai Flag of India.svg Rathika Seelan Win (12)3–0 (11-5, 11-3, 11-3) [36]
Dynam Cup SQ-Cube Open Flag of Egypt.svg Ruqayya Salem W/O [37]
Reliance PSA Challenge 3 Flag of Sri Lanka.svg Chanithma Sinaly Win (13)3–0 (11-0, 11-1, 11-4) [38]
HCL Squash Tour Kolkata Flag of the Philippines.svg Jemyca Aribado Win (14)3–0 (11-5, 11-3, 11-7) [39]
Costa North Coast Open Flag of Japan.svg Akari Midorikawa Win (15)3–0 (11-6, 11-6, 11-7) [40]
NSW Open Flag of Hong Kong.svg Helen Tang Win (16)3–1 (8-11, 11-6, 11-3, 11-4) [41]
Sunil Verma Memorial Flag of India.svg Shameena Riaz Win (17)3–0 (11-4, 11-3, 11-1) [42]

Note:Table shows international events and does not include national level title wins

Awards and nominations

YearAwardCategoryResultRef
2023 Times of India Sports Awards Special Recognition in SquashWon [43]
Emerging Sportsperson of the YearNominated [44]
2024 Indian Sports Honours Sportswoman of the YearNominated

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joshna Chinappa</span> Indian professional squash player

Joshna Chinappa is an Indian professional squash player. She reached a career-high world ranking of #10 in 2016. She was the first Indian to win the British Junior Open in 2005.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nour El Sherbini</span> Egyptian squash player

Nour El Sherbini is an Egyptian professional squash player. She is currently ranked as the world No. 1 in women's singles by the Women's Squash Association (WSA), having held the position for a total of 43 weeks. Nour, the only player representing Egypt in the list of most winner in all time of PSA Women's World Championship. And The Most Egyptian Player to win a Major series title, has won the British Open four times and the US Open once. Nour has won 40 titles, including the PSA Finals Twice.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nour El Tayeb</span> Egyptian squash player

Nour El Tayeb is a former professional squash player who represented Egypt. She reached a career-high ranking of World No. 3, in March 2018.

Ramit Tandon is an Indian professional squash player. He is a bronze medalist at the Asian Games and a gold and a silver medalist at the Asian Team Championships. As of Oct 2024, Tandon is ranked 28th in world rankings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Janet Vidhi</span> Indian squash player

Janet Vidhi is a professional squash player from India. She lives in Delhi. She is the 9th Indian woman squash player in history to enter the world top-100 rankings. She achieved her Best World Ranking of no. 88 as per the list issued by Professional Squash Association on 1 April 2017.

Velavan Senthilkumar is an Indian professional squash player. He reached a career-high world ranking of 45th in November 2024.

Abhay Singh is an Indian squash player. He's an Asian Games gold and bronze medalist and a triple gold medalist at the Asian Championships. Singh is also a silver and bronze medalist at the South Asian Games. As of Nov 2024, he is ranked 51st in the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hania El Hammamy</span> Egyptian squash player

Hania El Hammamy is an Egyptian professional squash player. She became a top seed in women's junior squash rankings at the age of 16. As of September 2024, she is ranked number 3 in the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mostafa Asal</span> Egyptian squash player

Mostafa Asal is an Egyptian professional squash player, formerly ranked World No. 1, nicknamed "The Raging Bull" for his play style and controversial on-court behavior, which includes three suspensions from the Professional Squash Association (PSA) tour. He became number one in the world in January 2023 and is currently ranked third.

Tanvi Khanna is an Indian female professional squash player and a regular member of the Indian squash team. She is currently ranked 69 in the world and regarded as one of the finest squash players to emerge from India. She was ranked as women's no.1 squash player in India in September 2023. She also plays for Columbia Lions squash team which belongs to the Columbia University. She achieved her highest PSA world ranking of 86 in September 2021 and broke into the top 100 for the first time during the 2019-20 PSA World Tour.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Esha Singh</span> Indian amateur shooter (born 2005)

Esha Singh is an Indian sport shooter. She became the youngest national champion in the 10 meter air pistol in 2018 at the age of 13. Besides 10 meter air pistol, she also competes in 25 meter standard pistol and 25 meter pistol events.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sreeja Akula</span> Indian table-tennis player

Sreeja Akula is an Indian table tennis player. She is a two-time Indian national champion. She is currently ranked India number one in women's singles. Akula received the Arjuna Award in 2022.

Jyothi Yarraji is an Indian track and field athlete from Andhra Pradesh. She specializes in 100 metre hurdles and holds the Indian national record. She broke the long-standing record by Anuradha Biswal on 10 May 2022 clocking 13.23s. She has broken the record multiple times ever since.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alex Haydon</span> Australian squash player (born 2001)

Alex Haydon also known as Alexandra Haydon is an Australian professional squash player. She made her maiden Commonwealth Games appearance representing Australia at the 2022 Commonwealth Games. She has won the Australian National Junior Squash Championships on seven occasions with all of them being on a consecutive basis from 2013 to 2019. She achieved her highest career PSA world rankings of 67 on 29 July 2024 during the 2023–24 PSA World Tour.

Rhythm Sangwan is an Indian sport shooter who usually competes in 10 meter air pistol and 25 meter pistol. She has won medals in Shooting World Cups and Shooting Championship at junior as well as at senior level.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Simran Sharma</span> Indian Paralympic athlete (born 1999)

Simran Sharma is a visually-impaired para-athlete from Modinagar, Uttar Pradesh. She qualified to represent India in the 2024 Summer Paralympics and won a bronze medal in the Women's 200 m T12 final on 7 September 2024. In the Women's 100 m T12, she qualified first in her heat with a season's best of 12.33s but could only finish 4th in the finals despite a better time of 12.31 s.

Tilottama Sen is an Indian sport shooter from Bangalore. In 2023, she won the silver medal in the women's 10m air rifle event at the Asian Shooting Championship at Changwon in South Korea, earning a quota place for the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.

Shruti Mishra is an Indian badminton player. She is affiliated with Suchitra Badminton Academy.

Veer Chotrani is an Indian squash player. As of November 2024, he is ranked 83rd in the world.

References

  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. "Anahat Singh crowned British Junior Open champion". The Times of India. ISSN   0971-8257 . Retrieved 11 November 2024.
  24. stevecubbins (8 July 2019). "European Junior Open : Finals". SquashSite - all about Squash. Retrieved 9 November 2024.
  25. "Anahat Singh and Neel Joshi wins Dutch Junior Open squash". The Times of India. ISSN   0971-8257 . Retrieved 9 November 2024.
  26. stevecubbins (30 December 2019). "Scottish Junior Open : Finals Day". SquashSite - all about Squash. Retrieved 9 November 2024.
  27. "2020 Results List". British Junior Open. Retrieved 9 November 2024.
  28. "India's Anahat Singh wins Junior US Open Squash Meet". The Times of India. ISSN   0971-8257 . Retrieved 9 November 2024.
  29. "Anahat wins junior squash meet in Germany". The Times of India. ISSN   0971-8257 . Retrieved 9 November 2024.
  30. "Champions awarded of the Dutch Junior Open 2022 – Dutch Junior Open 2024" (in Dutch). 14 July 2022. Retrieved 9 November 2024.
  31. "Anahat Singh clinches U-15 British Junior Open title". The Times of India. ISSN   0971-8257 . Retrieved 9 November 2024.
  32. "Anahat wins U-19 girls' title at Scottish Junior Open squash". Press Trust Of India. Retrieved 9 November 2024.
  33. 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.
  34. https://olympics.com/en/news/jsw-willingdon-2024-squash-india-results-anahat-abhay-singh
  35. https://olympics.com/en/news/hamdard-squashsters-northern-slam-2024-india-results-anahat-singh-suraj
  36. https://olympics.com/en/news/hcl-squash-tour-chennai-2024-anahat-singh-women-singles-winner-results
  37. "Dynam Cup SQ-Cube Open 2024". 26 June 2024.
  38. "Squash Info | Women's Reliance PSA Challenge 3 Tournament 2024 | Squash". www.squashinfo.com. Retrieved 8 November 2024.
  39. https://olympics.com/en/news/hcl-squash-tour-kolkata-2024-anahat-singh-women-singles-winner-results
  40. "Anahat Singh clinches Costa North Coast Open PSA Challenger title".
  41. "Anahat Singh's stellar season rolls on with seventh PSA Challenger title at NSW Open 2024". Olympics.
  42. https://olympics.com/en/news/sunil-verma-memorial-tournament-2024-squash-india-anahat-singh-win-title
  43. "TOISA 2023 Nominees: Squash stars in the fray for top honours". The Times of India. ISSN   0971-8257 . Retrieved 4 November 2024.
  44. "TOISA 2023 | Nominations". timesofindia.indiatimes.com. Retrieved 11 November 2024.