“I’m really excited to get going”: Teenage Star Anahat Singh On No.1 Seed Opportunity

At the age of just 15 years and 10 months old, Anahat Singh is on the eve of participating in her third Challenger Tour event and she will be charting unfamiliar territory as the No.1 seed and title favourite for the first time.

Singh, who has been touted by many as India’s next squash superstar, has enjoyed a whirlwind couple of years on the squash court, in a journey that has taken her to all corners of the globe. 

From competing at the 2022 Commonwealth Games at the tender age of 14, to claiming a pair of bronze medals at the Asian Games 2023 – in the women’s team and mixed doubles events – and most recently to winning the Indian National Championships last November, there’s good reason behind the teenager’s billing. 

Now, 16 months on from her last Challenger Tour appearance, the Delhi-based player will kick-start her campaign in the 3k JSW Willingdon Little Masters & Senior Tournament in Mumbai as the highest-ranked player in the field. 

On this upcoming appearance, Singh said: “I’m glad that I can start to play on the PSA Tour now. I haven’t really been able to play any events recently because there haven’t been that many in India and I’ve not been able to travel out that much. 

“But now I’m getting to play with a lot more people from a senior level and I’m really excited to get going.”

Bridging the gap from juniors to seniors is a hurdle that many young players face during the early stages of their careers, but thus far, Singh has made this jump look like a mere formality. 

The World No.122 shot into the limelight at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham when she competed as the youngest member of India’s 210-strong contingent. The teenager demonstrated that she wasn’t just there to make up the numbers though, managing to get a win under her belt at her debut major senior competition, defeating Jada Ross of St Vincent and the Grenadines and subsequently grabbing a game from former World No.12 Emily Whitlock in defeat. 

Meanwhile, during her Challenger Tour debut at the 6k Women’s SRFI Indian Tour Noida in 2021, Singh defeated two higher-seeded opponents in straight games on her way to the quarter-finals, before eventually bowing out to No.1 seed Sunayna Kuruvilla. 

When asked about the key ingredients needed to make this transition from junior to senior events, Singh said: “I honestly think that experience plays a huge part when trying to move from the juniors to the seniors events.

“The seniors have just played so many more events at that level, and as I said, I’m not playing that many PSA’s at the moment, but some of the seniors have a huge amount of experience. 

“Going forward, playing some of these senior events should hopefully start to show what some of my weaknesses are and how I can improve to reach that level.”

Balancing education and sport at such a young age can also prove tricky, with regular PSA World Tour member Amina Orfi having explained in the past about the long hours that are sometimes required to fit both into her daily schedule. And Singh is no exception to this, with the teenager admitting that a fine balancing act had to be struck during her recent run to the British Junior Open final in Birmingham, as well as for her upcoming Challenger Tour appearance. 

“I have my exams coming up,” she said. “So I’m going to be playing along with studying at the event, which I’m a little stressed out about!  But I’m really excited that I can play a PSA Tour event in India though. 

“Even throughout the British Junior Open tournament, I had to be studying quite a lot as my school work is really important. I’ve been trying to balance it out, and my school have been really supportive – they’ve moved around some of my exams for me so I could play in the British Junior Open and now the PSA event in India. 

“It does get hard at some points, but I try to manage both as best as I can.”

Despite the wealth of success that Singh has enjoyed in recent times, the teenager refused to get carried away when asked about her goals for the season and moving further beyond that. 

“I don’t really have a specific ranking goal this season, because it’s more just playing the tournaments right now for me,” she said. 

“Maybe just trying to improve my ranking and reaching the top 100 would be good, and I would like to start playing more events outside of India in the future.”