Anahat Singh (born 13 March 2008)[1] is an Indian squash player. She's an Asian Games and Asian Championships double-bronze medalist. Singh is ranked 82nd in the world, as of December 2024.[2] She is the youngest national champion, the youngest Indian to win a medal at the Asian Games, and the youngest athlete to represent the nation at the Commonwealth Games.[3] In 2024, Singh won nine tour titles, more than any woman in a single year since Nicol David in 2010.
Early life
Family and background
Singh was born in Delhi on 13 March 2008 to Tani Vadehra and Gursharan Singh. While her mother is an interior designer, her father is a lawyer. Both her parents used to play field hockey.[4] Being inspired by P. V. Sindhu, a six year old Singh started playing badminton.
She used to accompany her sister Amira who played squash. After playing a few squash tournaments where she performed well, she grew fond of it and switched to the sport.[5]
Coaching
At the beginning of her career, Singh was coached by Amjad Khan and Ashraf Hussein, which was followed by Ritwick Bhattacharya. Singh has also been coached by Stéphane Galifi and Grégory Gaultier.[6] Indian squash icon Saurav Ghosal is her mentor and helps her decide which tournaments to play.[7]
Career
Early beginnings (2019–2022)
Singh first rose to prominence after winning the U11 title at the British Junior Open in 2019.[8] This was followed by the European Junior Open, the Dutch Junior Open and the Scottish Junior Open titles the same year.[9] In 2021, she won the US Junior Open title by defeating Jayda Marei from Egypt. The next year, she won the German Junior Open, the Dutch Junior Open and the U15 title at the Asian Junior Championships.[10] At the age of 14, she was the youngest to represent India at the 2022 Commonwealth Games.[11]
In January, Singh finished as a runner-up in Girls U17 category at the British Junior Open after a loss to Nadien Elhammamy.[17] In the same month, she won her first PSA Tour title at the JSW Willingdon LMS Tournament after defeating Japan's Erisa Sano Herring 11-4, 11-3 and 11-7.[18] This was followed by a win at the Hamdard Squashters Northern Slam in April where she defeated Korean Hwayeong Eum 11-6, 11-4, 11-5.[19] Her third title came in June at the HCL Squash Tour Chennai on defeating compatriot Rathika Seelan 11-5, 11-3, 11-3.[20] She then reached another final at the Dynam Cup SQ-Cube Open but gave her opponent Ruqayya Salem from Egypt a walkover due an injury. Singh then won the Reliance PSA Challenge 3 against Sri Lankan Chanithma Sinaly scoring 11-0, 11-1, 11-4.
Her fifth title was HCL Squash Tour Kolkata where she defeated Filipino Jemyca Aribado 11-5, 11-3, 11-7. Then, she won Costa North Coast Open by defeating Akari Midorikawa from Japan by 11-6, 11-6, 11-7. Next, she won the NSW Open against Hong Kong's Helen Tang with a score of 8-11, 11-6, 11-3, 11-4. The Sunil Verma Memorial saw her defeating fellow Indian Shameena Riaz 11-4, 11-3, 11-1. Singh's last title of the year was the Western India Slam where she defeated India's #1 and her higher ranked fellow Akanksha Salunkhe 11-8, 11-8, 11-8. Thus, in 2024, she won nine tour titles, becoming the first woman to do so in a single year since Nicol David back in 2010. She had 38 wins out of 40 matches, 31 of them with a dominant 3–0 scoreline. She was featured in PSA Squash Tour's list of players to watch out for.[21] Singh also broke into the top 100 and jumped 51 total spots to reach her highest world ranking of 82.
(2025)
Singh compete at the 2025 edition of the British Junior Open.
