Kuala Lumpur, April 20: Indian squash stars Anahat Singh and Veer Chotrani have advanced to the World Squash Championships 2025 following wins in their respective finals at Asian qualifiers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on Sunday.
The 17-year-old Anahat will be India’s lone player in the women’s singles competition at the World Squash Championships, which are scheduled in Chicago, USA, from May 9 to 17, as per Olympics.com.
Anahat, an Asian Games bronze medalist, who was seeded fifth in the Asian qualifiers, defeated Hong Kong’s Toby Tse 3-1 (11-4, 9-11, 11-2, 11-8) to secure her spot in the top tournament in Chicago. The current world number 63 did not drop any game in the qualifiers before the final.
Another Indian, Akanksha Salunkhe, the world number 70 and second seed, advanced to the quarterfinals but lost to Tse by 3-1.
Tanvi Khanna, who knocked out Hong Kong’s top seed Cheng Nga Ching in the women’s singles opener, could not make it past the quarterfinals.
Anahat will be making her senior squash world championships in Chicago and is in line to lock horns with world number 23 England’s Katie Maliff in the first round.
Also, another player making her debut in the championships is Chotrani. The 23-year-old was the second seed and beat the local favourite Ameeshenraj Chandaran, the third seed, 3-0 (11-3, 11-4, 11-8) in the final to secure his spot for Chicago.
He will be joining fellow Indians Ramit Tandon, Abhay Singh and Velavan Senthilkumar in the men’s singles draw in the World Squash Championships 2025. His campaign opener will be against the 25th-seeded Englishman Declan James, while Ramit Tandon, the 32nd seed, will face Japan’s Ryunosuke Tsukue.
Senthilkumar will be taking on defending world champion Diego Elias of Peru in the first round, and Abhay Singh will kickstart his campaign in Chicago against Switzerland’s Nicolas Mueller. (ANI)
