A blend of old and young is a perfect way to describe the Indian squad for the squash events at the Commonwealth Games 2022 in Birmingham. From a couple of 35-year-something veterans who have seen it all to a 14-year-old prodigy aiming to land a surprise or two, the 9 claimants have enough talent and experience between them to ensure a rich haul.
Since the introduction of the event in CWG, India though have three medals to show for – two in women’s doubles (gold and silver) and one from mixed doubles (silver). As is clear, a medal in the singles event is missing. But the mood in the camp is that of confidence and positivity. While the doubles event continues to be India’s strongest chance of landing multiple medals, the players are confident that the singles jinx could very well be broken in Birmingham. The recent results have been promising and raised expectations.
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Eyes will be on 14-year old Anahat Singh, the youngest member of the Indian contingent at 2022 CWG. The teenager has won British Open (Under-11), and multiple U-15 titles including the US Open, Asian Juniors, German Open and Dutch Open.
Here’s a look at the squad medals hopefuls
Women’s Doubles: Dipika Pallikal and Joshna Chinappa
At the 2014 CWG in Glasgow, Pallikal and Chinappa combined to create history by winning the women’s doubles gold medal. They nearly defended their title in 2018 when the games were held in Gold Cost but had to remain contend with a silver. Since then, Pallikal has made a stunning comeback after becoming a mother of twins as she teamed up with Chinappa to win the women’s doubles world championships title in Glasgow earlier this year. And the duo is expected to regain their CWG title this time around.
Mixed Doubles: Dipika Pallikal and Saurav Ghosal
Pallikal’s comeback story had another golden chapter when she teamed up with the veteran Saurav Ghosal at the world championships in Glasgow to clinch the mixed doubles title in April this year. At the 2018 CWG, the pair lost in the final for a silver medal but with Ghosal in the final leg of his career will want to make this a memorable campaign by going a step ahead.
Men’s Singles: Saurav Ghosal
Saurav has been in excellent form for the past year or so now. In 2022, he won the mixed doubles gold at the world championships and last year, he became the first Indian to win singles title at Malaysian Open – a PSA World Tour Bronze event. And he won without dropping a single game. While he has three medals from doubles event in CWGs, a singles medal has remained elusive. With the form the 35-year-old has been recently, he surely can end the wait in this edition.
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India Squad
Men’s singles: Saurav Ghosal, Abhay Singh and Ramit Tandon
Women’s singles: Joshna Chinappa, Sunayna Kuruvilla and Anahat Singh
Men’s doubles: Ramit Tandon and Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu, Velavan Senthilkumar and Abhay Singh
Mixed doubles: Saurav Ghosal and Dipika Pallikal, Ramit Tandon and Joshna Chinappa.
Women’s doubles: Joshna Chinappa and Dipika Pallikal
Squash Schedule
The draw is not yet out. The singles events though begin from July 29 with the medals matches on August 3. The doubles events start from August 3 with medals matches scheduled for August 7 and 8.
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