Hangzhou Asian Games medal-winners Abhay Singh (Tamil Nadu) and Tanvi Khanna (Delhi) are the men’s and women’s top seeds at the 79th National squash championship to be held from November 17 to 23 at the Indian Squash and Triathlon Academy (ISTA) here.
Defending champion Abhay Singh is participating for the third time in the championship. Ramit Tandon (West Bengal) and last edition’s runner-up Velavan Senthilkumar (TN) are seeded second and third in the men’s category. Anahat Singh (Delhi) and Urwashi Joshi (Maharashtra) are second and third in the women’s category. This will be Ramit’s second and Velavan’s fifth time participating in the championship. Harinder Pal Sandhu, seeded fifth in the men’s category, will make his 16th appearance in the championship.
A total of 417 players from 26 states will compete across 11 events (men, women, pro-coach, and masters in the age group of 35 to 70 years) in the tournament. The men’s category features 174 participants, and the women’s category 63. The total prize money is ₹8.8 lakh.
“This will be the seventh time that Chennai will be hosting the National championship,” said the Squash Rackets Federation of India (SRFI) Secretary General Cyrus Poncha. SRFI honorary life president and patron N. Ramachandran said that Joshna Chinappa will miss the championship as she’s nursing a knee injury.
The men’s and women’s qualifying rounds will be held from November 17 to 19, and the main draw for all the events from November 20 to 23.