Anahat targets Asian Games Gold after Junior World Title
Fresh from winning the world junior squash championship, 18-year-old Anahat Singh is determined to upgrade the colour of the medals she won at the 2023 Asian Games when she competes at the Aichi-Nagoya Games in Japan next month.
Anahat had won bronze medals in the mixed doubles and team events at the Hangzhou Asian Games in 2023. She partnered Abhay Singh in mixed doubles and was part of the women's team alongside Joshna Chinappa, Dipika Pallikal and Tanvi Khanna.
"I really, really want to change the colour of the medal. I will train hard for the next month I have left until the Asian Games and do everything I can, hopefully, change the colour of the medal and do better than I did last time," Anahat told PTI on the sidelines of a felicitation ceremony here on Monday.
The Asian Games begin on September 19, leaving the youngster little time to celebrate her junior world title.
Anahat said she has started to absorb the significance of her world championship triumph but is already shifting her focus to the Asian Games and the tournaments leading up to the continental event.
"It's been almost two weeks since the tournament ended, so it's definitely begun to sink in a little bit. But now, I need to focus on the Asian Games and I have a few tournaments before that as well, so I'm trying to forget about the last event," she said.
"Of course, carry it on with me and everything that I've learned from it, but focus on the other events coming up and just focus on those and get on with this event," she added.
Anahat said the world junior title had not significantly changed her life, but had given her additional confidence ahead of the upcoming season.
"Honestly, not so much. It's not really changed that much. I mean, I still have to play the same events. This is just one small thing. I still have so much that I want to achieve and so much I want to play," she said.
"I'm only 18 years old. I still have a long time of squash left ahead of me. It's just something that I'll carry on with me and something that will give me a bit more confidence going into the next few months, knowing that I've won this event," she added.
The teenager also acknowledged that she has significant areas to improve as she makes the transition from junior to senior squash.
"There's still so much for me to learn, a lot in the physicality aspect, in technique and learning a few new things. A lot of the games that I play is a junior game and I need to transition," she said.
"I don't really know exactly what. But there's so much. There are like a hundred things I need to work on. And I'm just going to take it one step at a time," she added.
While her immediate focus is on the Asian Games, Anahat has already set her sights on the Olympics and hopes to eventually win a medal for India.
"I'd say the first step is to qualify for Olympics. So, right now, my main aim is just to think about that. But of course, it would be my dream to hopefully win a medal for India (in the Olympics) as well," she said.
"And I'm going to do everything I can. Every event I play, every training session, ultimately leads up to the Olympics," she added.
Anahat said her sporting journey began with badminton, where she drew inspiration from PV Sindhu, before switching to squash after being influenced by her elder sister.
"I started playing badminton when I was almost five years old. So, I've been playing sports for a very long time. My elder sister used to play squash and I switched to squash a couple of years later when I was eight years old. So, I got into it a little bit because of her," she said.
She recalled watching Sindhu compete in Delhi and being inspired by the Olympic medallist.
"When I played badminton, I was very inspired by PV Sindhu because I grew up watching many of her events that took place in Delhi. And I used to go to city court and play, watch a lot of her tournaments, a lot of her matches," Anahat said.
In squash, she considers several Indian stars who competed at major international events as her inspirations.
"In squash, I'd say all of my seniors, Joshna, Deepika, Sourav, I've grown up watching them on TV. I've grown up being surrounded with them at big events like Commonwealth and Asian Games and I've got to learn so much from them. So, in squash, they're my biggest inspiration," she said.
(Inputs from PTI)
