Mumbai : In a little over a year from the Asian Games in 2023 to the 2024 World Squash Team Championships starting on Monday, Abhay Singh jokes about going from being the “baby in the team to leading out the boys”.
Only two players who were part of the men’s gold winning and the women’s bronze winning teams in Hangzhou will also be in Hong Kong: Abhay, 26, and 16-year-old Anahat Singh. Saurav Ghosal has retired while Joshna Chinappa and Harinder Pal Sandhu will perform coaching duties in the coming week.
These are changing times for Indian squash within the significant shift in world squash, with the sport now being part of the Olympic programme for Los Angeles 2028. The context of this World Team Championships, a prestigious tournament that dates back to the 1960s which will see both gender events take place together for the first time, thus gets an Olympic-size elevation.
And the Indian teams, sans some of the most accomplished squash pros the country has produced, go into the event with a fresh, young and unknown look with the LA Games in the backdrop at the start of a new Olympic cycle.
“Honestly, I’m also eager to find out what the week is like,” Abhay said.
Abhay, ranked world No.53 on the PSA pro tour, is part of the men’s team also comprising 26-year-old Velavan Senthilkumar (ranked 45), Veer Chotrani (85) and Suraj Kumar Chand (153), both 23. The men are clubbed with Ireland and Colombia in the 26-team round-robin stage. The women’s team features Akanksha Salunkhe (ranked 70), the fast-rising Anahat (94), Urwashi Joshi (136) and 19-year-old Nirupama Dubey (206). They have Belgium, Colombia and Italy in their group from the 23-team mix.
A major event featuring the world’s top players and teams would be provide a good testing ground for this bunch of largely inexperienced Indian players who now have LA 2028 to look forward to and build towards.
“What I’m looking at from this event in terms of the Olympics is the kind of players that are coming up and will continue competing on the tour. Kind of on the lines of who I might get to face in four years’ time, making all these boxes for different players from various countries and observing them,” said 25-year-old Akanksha, who has won five PSA titles after graduating from the Trinity College in USA’s Hartford.
“For me, personally, I’m looking at this as the start of a journey to lead the Indian squad in the coming years leading into LA and even beyond,” Abhay said. “I want to set an example of what we can do newly as a team, and bring in a lot of fire, intensity and excitement.”
Abhay was one of India’s breakout faces at last year’s Asian Games, with his decisive and emotion-filled victory in the final against Pakistan earning the gold for the Indian men’s team. In its non-Olympic days, the sport from an Indian viewpoint largely sprung into the limelight only during the Asian Games and Commonwealth Games. Now with the Olympic tag, events like the World Team come with greater context.
“Definitely,” said Abhay. “Apart from the Asian Games and CWG, we only had these Asian and world events, and they too hold a lot of importance. I’ve played only the Asian team events, so this will be a bit of a new experience for me. We haven’t been in the medal fight at the world event yet. But I believe it’s not too far-fetched here. I’m excited to see what’s in store.”
