Nagoya, Sep 27 (IANS) India’s teenage sensation Anahat Singh secured a silver medal after losing the gold medal match to Malaysia’s defending champion Sivasangari Subramaniam by 4-11, 4-11, 7-11 at the Nagoya Kinjo Futo Arena here on Sunday.
Anahat, the reigning Junior World Champion, is the first women’s singles silver medallist from India, as Sivasangari defended the gold that she won at the Hangzhou Games.
With this, Anahat has also missed out on the first direct shot at the Olympics, as the winner of the singles event was guaranteed a quota for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, where squash is making its debut.
The 18-year-old prodigy had a tough battle against the much more experienced Malaysian as she went down in the first game 4-11, finding it hard to match her opponent’s dominant performance.
The Malaysian controlled the next two games too with her solid attack and defence, giving almost nothing to Anahat as she lost the second game 4-11 before a similarly strong show from the reigning champion gave her a 11-7 win.
Anahat had defeated World No.6 Satomi Watanabe in the semifinal from two games down and also saved two match points to beat her and become the first Indian to storm into the women’s singles squash final at the Asiad.
Earlier in the day, India’s Abhay Singh also settled for a silver after Malaysia’s defending champion Eain Yow Ng produced a composed performance to beat the Indian 11-9, 11-5, 11-5 in the men’s singles squash final.
Abhay became only the second Indian man after Saurav Ghosal, who won singles silver in 2014 and 2023, to claim the silver medal in the event. However, with the loss in the final, Abhay missed out on a direct qualification to the LA 2028 Olympics, where squash is making its debut.
The 44-minute contest at the Nagoya Kinjo Futo Arena was closely fought in the opening game before Eain gradually took control, denying Abhay the chance to mount a comeback and retain the title he had won at Hangzhou 2022.
–IANS
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