World Squash Team Championships 2024: India men beat Germany in 5-8 playoffs; to play Hong Kong China for fifth place

The Indian men’s team will face hosts Hong Kong China for a fifth-place finish at the World Squash Team Championships 2024 after beating Germany 2-0 in the 5-8 playoffs on Friday.

Meanwhile, the Indian women can only finish seventh or eighth in the tournament after losing 3-0 to seven-time champions England in their 5-8 place playoffs. They will face France in their final match of the competition on Saturday.

The Indian men and women had entered the 5-8 place playoffs after losing to France and the United States of America (USA), respectively, in their quarter-final fixtures on Thursday.

In the men’s match on Friday, Velavan Senthilkumar, 45th in the squash world rankings, beat German veteran Simon Rösner, a former world No. 1 and two-time world championships bronze medallist, 3-2 (8-11, 11-1, 11-8, 4-11, 11-7) to set the ball rolling.

World No. 54 Abhay Singh then upset the 33rd-ranked Raphael Kandra 3-2 (11-3, 8-11, 11-7, 5-11, 12-10) in a tense 47-minute-long encounter to seal the 2-0 win for India.

Earlier in the day, Akanksha Salunkhe, India’s best-ranked women’s singles player at world No. 70, lost her women’s rubber 3-0 (11-7, 11-7, 11-6) against the 20th-ranked Jasmine Hutton.

The 16-year-old Anahat Singh, ranked 95th in the world, showed glimpses of her potential against Sarah-Jane Perry but the world No. 19 Englishwoman eventually proved too strong an opponent to overcome for the Indian squash player.

Anjali Semwal retired midway through her match, a dead rubber, against Lucy Turmel, handing world No. 4 England a 3-0 win in the tie.

India have never won a medal at the World Squash Team Championships.