A 13-year-old Indian teenager, Anahat Singh has won the prestigious Junior US Open Squash tournament in the U-15 girls’ category in Philadelphia. More than 850 top juniors from 41 nations participated in one of the most revered global squash tourney. The tournament was played at the Arlen Spectre Centre in Philadelphia.
In the semifinal, she beat US junior national champion Dixon Hill (11-8, 11-9, 11-5) in straight games. Singh got the title in only 32 minutes as she defeated Jayda Marei of Egypt (11-9, 11-5, 8-11, 11-5) in the finals.
Anahat started playing squash when she was eight years old, and within a few years, she was ranked first in the country in the U 11 category. She has won 40 national titles, two national championships, and six internationals to date. She is currently ranked first in Europe, Asia, and India in the Girls U 13 category. In 2019, she won gold at the prestigious British Junior Open, silver at the British Junior Open 2020, and bronze at the Asian Junior Championships. She was also featured in the Paris 2024 Squash Olympic Promotion Video.
Anahat’s life hasn’t been easy because she has to balance her studies and her sport. She had to put in a lot of effort to win the superseries titles and perform at the highest level of the British Open in order to stay at the top of the rankings.
Of late, female Indian sportspersons have been going great guns at the international level, netting several titles and accomplishments, most of which are unprecedented. 14 year-old Bandipora girl Tajamul Islam’s triumph at the World Kickboxing Championships, winning a hard-fought Gold Medal was arguably the crowning glory for Indian sport in 2021.
