HCL SRFI Indian Tour Chennai to Become First International PSA Challenger Tour Event Since Suspension

The PSA Challenger Tour will host a fully international event for the first time in over twelve months when the HCL SRFI Indian Tour – Chennai Leg 1 takes place from March 27-31 at the Indian Squash Academy.

Due to a range of health and safety issues and travel restrictions arising from the global COVID-19 pandemic, the PSA Challenger Tour has been made up entirely of domestic and cross-border participation events since the tour restarted in September, with the last fully international event taking place in March 2020, when the Queen City Open was held in Regina, Canada.

Organised by the Squash Rackets Federation of India, the Chennai leg of the HCL Indian Tour will feature a men’s PSA Challenger 20 event and women’s PSA Challenger 10 tournament. Eight nationalities will be represented across the two draws, with players from Canada, Egypt, France, India, Japan, Russia, Spain and the United States all travelling to Chennai to take part in the tournament.

World No.47 Mahesh Mangaonkar will be the top seed for the men’s draw, while World No.69 Sunayna Kuruvilla will head up the women’s event, with both aiming to be successful on home soil.

The rest of the top eight seeded positions in the men’s draw will be taken by players inside the top 70 in the PSA World Rankings and will feature six of those eight nationalities. USA’s Todd Harrity, Egypt’s Karim El Hammamy and Mazen Gamal, Frenchman Sebastien Bonmalais, Spain’s Bernat Jaume, Indian Aditya Jagtap and Japan’s Ryosei Kobayashi will all be seeded for the men’s draw.

The top four seeds in the women’s draw are all inside the top 110 in the World Rankings, with the Egyptian duo of Hana Moataz and Farah Momen, and India’s Tanvi Khanna joining Kuruvilla as the seeded players at the top of the draw.

“We are thankful for the hard work of the Squash Rackets Federation of India to make this tournament a reality and look forward to working with them closely over the coming weeks to ensure a successful tournament,” said PSA Tour Director Hannah Ridgard-Mason.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has undoubtedly caused a great deal of disruption to both the PSA Challenger Tour and the PSA World Tour. However, the fact that we’re able to host our first international Challenger event in over 12 months is a positive step towards a busy and thriving schedule of professional squash tournaments.”

Squash Rackets Federation of India President, Debendranath Sarangi, said: “The SRFI is pleased to host the first PSA Challenger Tour event, in India, following the lockdown. Although India is a large country, we have started organising smaller domestic events across the country.

“I am delighted that the Indian Squash Academy will once again host PSA events in Chennai. This will be the 17th men’s & 13th women’s PSA event held since 2003 at the academy, which is rightfully known as the ‘Home of Indian Squash’. The growth in Indian squash has been tremendous over the past decade. With 70 registered PSA members from India, we intend to host more ASF (Asian Squash Federation), WSF (World Squash Federation) and PSA events in the coming years.

“Our sincere appreciation and thanks go to the Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports, the Sports Authority of India and HCL who have totally backed us during these tough times.”

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Men’s Entry List: 2nd HCL SRFI Indian Tour – Chennai Leg
1) Mahesh Mangaonkar (IND)
2) Todd Harrity (USA)
3) Karim El Hammamy (EGY)
4) Sebastien Bonmalais (FRA)
5) Mazen Gamal (EGY)
6) Bernat Jaume (ESP)
7) Aditya Jagtap (IND)
8) Ryosei Kobayashi (JPN)
9) Moustafa El Sirty (EGY)
10) Yahya Elnawasany (EGY)
11) David Baillargeon (CAN)
12) Omar ElKattan (EGY)
13) Abhishek Agarwal (IND)
14) Abhay Singh (IND)
15) Abhishek Pradhan (IND)
16) Aadit Zaveri (IND)
17) Velavan Senthilkumar (IND)
18) Hazem Helmy (EGY)
19) Aly Hussein (EGY)
20) Vladislav Titov (RUS)
21) Yash Fadte (IND)
22) Veer Chotrani (IND)
23) Sandeep Ramachandran (IND)
24) Navaneeth Prabhu (IND)

Women’s Entry List: 2nd HCL SRFI Indian Tour – Chennai Leg
1) Sunanya Kuruvilla (IND)
2) Hana Moataz (EGY)
3) Farah Momen (EGY)
4) Tanvi Khanna (IND)
5) Sachika Balvani (IND)
6) Urwashi Joshi (IND)
7) Aparajitha Balamurukan (IND)
8) Rana Ismail (EGY)
9) Sanika Choudhari (IND)
10) Malak Kamal (EGY)
11) Janet Vidhi (IND)
12) Abhisheka Shannon (IND)
13) Rathika Suthanthira Seelan (IND)
14) Aaradhana Kasturiraj (IND)
15) Tiana Parasrampuria (IND)
16) Radhika Rathore (IND)
17) Bijli Darvada (IND)
18) Varvara Esina (RUS)
19) Vasudha Surange (IND)
20) Akshaya Sri (IND)
21) Yoshna Singh (IND)
22) Shameena Riaz (IND)
23) Pooja Arthi R (IND)
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