Kush Kumar: A new hope for Indian Squash

Kush Kumar (file photo)

Kush Kumar continues to impress. The 19-year-old, who clinched an individual bronze medal at the World Junior Squash Championships only last year, is fast making his presence felt on the Professional Squash Association (PSA) Tour. Showing immense maturity in his game, Kumar is on a remarkable run in the tournaments Down Under.

The World No. 152, who captured the Tasmanian Open just three weeks ago, reached yet another quarter-final last week at the $5k PSA event in Melbourne – The Shepparton International.

Surprise win in first round

Kumar started with a win, upsetting seventh seed Jonathan Maloney. Despite a lot of resistance from the 145th ranked Englishman in the third game, it was great to see the Indian youngster holding his nerves well to finish the match in three games – 11-2, 11-6, 13-11.

He continued with confidence and next posted an 11-8, 12-10, 11-6 victory over Martin Svec of the Czech Republic to move into the quarters.

However, his run came to an end at the hands of the eventual runner-up Josh Masters in the quarter-finals. Kush gave a tough fight to the 20-year-old Englishman in the first and second games but went down 9-11, 8-11, 5-11 in 41 minutes.

Kumar has already started to catch the attention of the squash world. On International Youth Day, he was featured by the official PSA site as one of their ‘Stars of the Future’, which singled out upcoming talents in the squash world. He was described in the article as having a “.. ‘wealth of potential’ and is sure to rise even further up the World Rankings next season.”

Let us hope the 19-year-old can keep his wonderful run going!