Nagoya: Indian women’s squash team signed off with a bronze medal at the Asian Games after losing 2-1 to Hong Kong in the semi-finals here at the Nagoya Kinjo Futo Arena on Wednesday.
Anahat Singh went down 3-2 to Chan Sin Yuk (11-9, 11-8, 6-11, 11-13, 10-12), while Tanvi Khanna stunned world no. 40 Lee Ka Yi 3-1 (4-11, 13-11, 11-9, 13-11) to level the tie. Joshna Chinappa then lost the deciding match to Ho Tze Lok 3-0 (11-4, 11-7, 11-9), settling for a bronze medal.
This was Anahat’s second medal at the ongoing games, having won the silver in the women’s singles.
Notably, Joshna, Tanvi and Anahat were also part of the Indian women’s team that won bronze at Hangzhou 2023. Anahat was part of the bronze-medal-winning women’s and mixed teams at the previous edition.
Anahat had several match points in the third game but was unable to convert them. Tanvi then produced a stunning comeback to beat Lee 3-1 and levelled the the semi-final at 1-1, but Joshna lost the deciding match to 3-0 to give India a bronze medal finish.
This was India’s fourth medal in squash at Aichi-Nagoya. Earlier, Anahat and Abhay Singh both fell one win short of Asian Games 2026 gold medals and Olympic squash quotas in the women’s and men’s singles events, respectively, on Sunday.
Anahat lost the women’s gold medal match to Malaysia’s Sivasangari Subramaniam 3-0 (11-4, 11-4, 11-7) while Abhay lost the final 3-0 (11-9, 11-5, 11-5) against another Malaysian Ng Eain Yow.
Abhay is only the second Indian to win silver in men’s singles at the Games, after Saurav Ghosal, who made the finals at Incheon 2014 and Hangzhou 2023 but lost. The Indian mixed doubles team of Joshna Chinappa and Velavan Senthilkumar had secured a bronze medal on Saturday.
India came into the 2026 Asian Games after a fruitful campaign at Hangzhou 2023, where the country won five medals in squash, including two golds, one silver and two bronze.
In Hangzhou, the men’s team won gold, while India also topped the podium in the mixed doubles event. The country added a silver medal in men’s singles through Saurav Ghosal and bronze medals in the women’s team and mixed team competitions.
(IANS)
