Joshna Chinappa won the national squash title for the 19th time, Abhay became the winner for the first time

Star player Joshna Chinappa won the national title for the 19th time by defeating Delhi’s Anahat Singh 11-8, 11-9, 11-9 in the women’s singles final of the 78th National Squash Championship. In men’s singles, top seed Abhay Singh came back from a game down to win 11-13, 11-7, 11-6, 11-4 against Velavan Senthilkumar for his maiden national title.

The women’s singles final between Joshna and 14-year-old Anahat was expected to be a close one but the 36-year-old Chennai player won in 25 minutes in straight games. In the men’s singles final, even after losing the first game, Abhay Singh kept his composure to win in 48 minutes.

Chinappa’s performance at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games this year was nothing special. India’s medal hopes took a blow when Joshna Chinappa lost in the quarterfinals of the women’s singles round. She was defeated 3–0 by Holly Naughton of Canada. The first game was won by Hawley 11-9. In the second game, the Canadian defeated Chinappa 11-5. In the third game, Holley defeated Chinappa 15-13 in a hard-fought match.