India's Anahat Singh wins Asian Junior Squash Championships title

She is the first Indian girl to win gold in the tournament.

India's Anahat Singh clinched gold medal in the U-17 Asian Junior Squash Championships 2023 held at Dalian, China from August 16-20. The 15-year-old top seed defeated Hong Kong's second seeded Ena Kwong 3-1 in the finals to clinch the girls' singles title. With this, Anahat has now become the first Indian girl and only second Indian to win the U-17 title. Kush Kumar in 2012 won the boys' U-17 title.

Anahat Singh's journey to U-17 Asian Junior Squash Championships title

Round of 32 - Bye

Round of 16 - defeated Premin Nekoupayanatak of Iran (3-0)

Quarterfinal - defeated Doycee Lee Ye San of Malaysia (3-1)

Semifinal - defeated Whitney Isabelle Anak Wilson of Malaysia (3-1)

Final - defeated Kwong Ena of Hong Kong (3-1)

The U-17 Asian Junior Squash Championships title is not Anahat first Asian junior level title. She also won the U-15 Championships by defeating Ena Kwong last year. This edition witnessed a rematch of last year's final, albeit in a different category.

However, once again Anahat came out on top as she defeated Kwong 3-1 in the girls' final. Earlier, she beat Malaysia's Doyce Lee and Whitney Isabelle Wilson in the quarter-final and semi-finals respectively to enter the final.

Apart from the Asian Junior Squash Championships titles at the U-15 and U-17 level, Anahat also claimed a bronze medal in the U-13 category of the same competition in 2019. Earlier this year, she won the U-15 British Junior Open convincingly with just dropping a single set in the whole tournament.

Anahat Singh burst into the limelight after her U-15 US junior Squash Open victory in 2021 when she became the first Indian to win the title. Before this triumph, she had also clinched the U-11 British Junior Open and U-13 Dutch Junior Open.

In 2022, the young sensation became the youngest athlete to represent India at the Commonwealth Games. She also reached the Quarterfinals of the World Junior Squash Championships of both 2022 and 2023 editions but failed to go beyond the quarter-finals stage in both campaigns. She is one of the prominent names to carry India's flag in the world of Squash.