Shanghai, Nov 12 (IANS) Rising teenaged talent Anahat Singh went down to Egyptian eighth seed and world No 15 Sana Ibrahim 11-5, 6-11, 4-11, 7-11 in the round-of-16 at the China Open squash, a PSA Gold event, on Wednesday.
Meanwhile at the Bondi Open PSA Challenger event in Sydney, top seed Rathika Suthanthira Seelan progressed to the semifinals after beating compatriot Aaradhana Kasturiraj 11-8, 11-3, 11-5 in the first round and Anantana Prasertratanakul (Thailand) 11-7, 11-3, 11-3 in the quarterfinals.
Women’s national champion Anahat Singh made a winning start at the PSA event on Tuesday, while compatriots Velavan Senthilkumar and Abhay Singh lost in the men’s opening round.
Delhi teenager Anahat, ranked 38 in the world, beat Egypt’s Menna Hamed 11-6, 11-8, 11-3 in the Round-of-32 of the PSA Gold event. Abhay lost to Baptiste Masotti, the French world No. 17, winning 11-8, 11-7, 11-4, while Senthilkumar went down to higher-ranked Egyptian Mohamed Abouelghar 8-11, 12-14, 6-11.
Earlier, Anahat did well at the Canadian Open, storming into the semifinals of the event. The 17-year-old advanced to the quarterfinals of the USD 96,250 PSA Silver tournament in Toronto with a stunning win over World Ranking 7 Tinne Gilis to enter the semifinals.
Ranked 43 in the world, the Delhi teenager beat French world No. 20 and sixth seed Melissa Alves 12-10, 12-10, 8-11, 11-2 in 41 minutes in the Round of 16 on Sunday.
The Delhi-based squash player won two bronze medals at the Asian Games 2023 – in the women’s team and the mixed doubles events – in Hangzhou. She also held the record of being the youngest Indian to become an Asian Games medallist (15 years, six months and 16 days) for a few days before Sanjana Bathula surpassed it.
Anahat was the youngest member of the Indian contingent for the Commonwealth Games 2022 in Birmingham and even got a win under her belt at her debut major senior competition, beating Jada Ross of St Vincent and the Grenadines in the round of 64.
–IANS
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