Anahat Singh placed her palm on her head and pulled her tongue out. Minutes ago, she had been on the verge of being eliminated from the Asian Games semi-final.
She roared away in the next two games, turning the tide spectacularly in a semi-final that was almost lost. The experienced Indian pair lost the first game on golden ball, and also the third after having multiple match balls. The Indian teen stepped out a 3-2 (9-11, 11-13, 12-10, 11-6, 11-3) winner. The brilliant fightback and commendable victory on Saturday landed her in uncharted territory, putting her within sight of an early spot for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. Joshana and Velavan, in fact, thought they had won the match at 10-10 when a refereeing call overturned it.
6 Japanese player, had three match balls in the third game. Anahat, the world No.17 Indian, had little room for error left. Then came the opening at 10-10. The 18-year-old is the first Indian female squash player ever to make the singles final at an Asian Games. Add Abhay Singh, who beat Pakistan’s Irfan Muhammad 3-0 (11-3, 12-10, 11-6) in his men’s singles semi-final, and there will be two Indian pros in Sunday’s finals. Satomi, the 27-year-old Hangzhou Asian Games bronze medallist, is a vastly experienced player. In her only previous clash with Anahat, she eked out a close 3-2 win in the Sprott Tournament of Champions in January. She was off to a fast 3-1 lead, which turned 6-4 before Anahat levelled up. Satomi was also up 6-3 and 9-6 in the second game, until Anahat came back to make it 9-10.
Satomi Watanabe, the world No. A stroke was awarded to Anahat. Suddenly, Anahat had a match ball. She took it and let out an emotional roar. Indian squash has never had that at the Asian Games, or a gold medal in singles. Satomi knew what to expect from Anahat this time, and came out setting the tone. With both fairly attacking players, the rallies were short and error-filled. More errors coming from the Indian meant despite saving two game balls, the Japanese was up and running. A clash of shoulders and heads between the players left Anahat bleeding. When they returned, back-to-back strokes followed by a brilliant touch by Satomi gave her the game.
The Indian teen, fairly new at the elite PSA level after her exceptional rise over the last year, can be a bit of an unknown for most top players in the first meetings.
