Anahat Singh wins Western India Slam 2024 squash; clinches ninth PSA Challenger title of the year

Indian squash sensation Anahat Singh picked up her ninth PSA Challenger title of the year after winning the Western India Slam 2024 women’s singles crown at the Cricket Club of India courts in Mumbai on Sunday.

The 16-year-old Anahat Singh, seeded second in the tournament, defeated top seed and fellow Indian squash player Akanksha Salunkhe 3-0 (11-8, 11-8, 11-8) in the final to add another triumph to her sensational run this season.

This was also Anahat Singh’s first win over Akanksha Salunkhe, world No. 70, in an PSA event. It was the 25-year-old Salunkhe who came out on top when the two met in the quarter-finals of the ACE Challenger Tour 12k earlier this year.

Anahat’s list of PSA titles this year also include the JSW Willingdon Little Masters and Senior Tournament, the Hamdard Squashters Northern Slam, the Chennai and Kolkata legs of the HCL Squash Tour, the Reliance PSA Challenge 3 Tournament, the Costa North Coast Open, the Alto Pennant Hills NSW Open and the JSW Sunil Verma Memorial Tournament.

The teen Indian squash player also won both the junior and senior national women’s titles this year.

Anahat, an Asian Games medallist, dropped just one game throughout the tournament in Mumbai during her 3-1 win over Egypt's Nour Khafagy, the third seed, in the semi-finals.

She had accounted for eighth seed Anjali Semwal and Nirupama Dubey in the quarter-finals and second round, respectively, after receiving a bye in the opening round.

Meanwhile, the curtains came down on India’s challenge in the men’s bracket after world No. 87 Veer Chotrani’s exit in the semi-finals after a loss to Malaysia’s Amneeshenraj Chandaran.

Second seed Chandaran beat Czechia’s top seed Viktor Byrtus in the final to win the men’s title in Mumbai.

The Western India Slam featured more than 700 players from 12 countries.