Anahat Singh wins singles title at Hamdard Squashters Northern Slam 2024

Indian squash players Anahat Singh and Suraj Kumar Chand clinched the women’s and men’s singles titles, respectively, at the Hamdard Squashters Northern Slam 2024 tournament, which concluded in New Delhi on Saturday.

The 15-year-old Anahat Singh, who won two bronze medals at last year’s Hangzhou Asian Games, was the top-seeded player in the women’s singles event at the PSA Challenger squash tournament and lived up to her billing with a series of clinical wins.

Anahat blanked the Republic of Korea’s Hwayeong Eum 3-0 (11-6, 11-4, 11-5) in the final to claim her second PSA World Tour title. She won the JSW Willingdon Little Masters and Senior Tournament by defeating Japan’s Erisa Sano Herring in January.

The teenager had received a first round bye before downing compatriot Unnati Tripathi, a wildcard entry, 3-0 in the second round. The Indian squash player didn’t drop a single game as she downed South Korea’s Chaewon Song in the quarters and Jihyun Lee in the semis by dominating 3-0 scorelines.

Meanwhile, Suraj, who lost the JSW Willingdon Little Masters and Senior Tournament men’s singles final to Abhay Singh, picked up the title in New Delhi after a hard-fought 3-2 (11-13, 11-5, 7-11, 11-9, 11-3) victory over Sri Lankan top seed Ravindu Laksiri.

Suraj, seeded second, was trailing 2-1 at one pound but roared back with a clutch performance to win his maiden PSA World Tour title.

Suraj had earlier blanked India’s Vaibhav Chauhan, Ayaan Vaziralli and South Korean fifth seed Ryu Jeongmin en route to the final.