V Senthilkumar wins Batch Open Squash Title
Sport
5 min read
National men’s Squash champion Velavan Senthilkumar defeated Melvil Scianimanico of France to win the Batch Open Challenger Squash. This was the eighth PSA (Professional Squash Association) title for the US-based Indian Velavan Senthilkumar.
The Batch Open was organised by the world squash governing body Professional Squash Association with the host French Squash Federation at Jeu de Paume, Paris, France, from 24-28 April 2024.
World No.58 ranked Velavan Senthilkumar defeated Melvil Scianimanico of France in the final straight sets, 11-6,11-9 and 11-9. Earlier in the semifinal, Senthilkumar defeated Hong Kong’s Andes Ling to set the title clash with Melvil Scianimanico.
Famous Indian Squash Player
Squash is a court game that is not very popular in India. The game of Squash is also not an Olympic sport. However, the International Olympic Committee has decided to introduce Squash in the Los Angeles Summer Olympics 2028 for the first time.
Some of the famous Indian Squash players are as follows.
Saurav Ghosal
Saurav Ghosal is the most famous Indian squash player, who recently announced his retirement from the international circuit. He established India's name in the professional squash circuit. He was the first Indian to be ranked world junior no.1 and the only Indian men’s player to be ranked in the world’s top 10 of the men’s senior singles.
Read -Saurav Ghosal Retires from Professional Squash
Dipika Pallikal
In the women's squash, Dipika Pallikal is the best-known female player. She is the wife of famous cricket player Dinesh Karthik.
Dipika has won 11 PSA titles . She is the first Indian women's player to be ranked in the top 10 PSA women’s singles ranking.
She has won six Asian Games medals, including bronze medals in singles at the 2014 Incheon and 2018 Jakarta Asian Games.
She and Harinder Pal Sandhu won the first-ever mixed doubles gold medal in the Asian Games, winning gold at the 19th Hangzhou Asian Games.
She also won the women’s singles title at the Asian Championship in 2017.
Joshna Chinappa
Joshna Chinappa is another famous women's squash player. She was the second Indian women’s player to be included at the top of the women’s singles world rankings. She was ranked no 10 in 2016.
She has won five medals at the Asian Games including a bronze medal at the 2018 Jakarta Asian Games.
Joshna Chinappa is the first Indian to win a singles title at the Asian Squash Championship. She defeated Dipika Pallikal in the final to win the singles title at the 2017 Asian Championship. She won the singles title again in 2019.
The other current and promising Indian squash players are Harinder Pal Sandhu, who has till now won three times Asian Games, V. Senthilkumar, Anahat Singh, Abhay Kumar Kush Kumar, Mahesh Mangaonkar, Tanvi Khanna and Misha Grewal.
