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Asian Games medalists Abhay Singh and Tanvi Khanna will be the top seeds in the men and women singles events respectively at the 79th National Squash Championship.
The tournament will take place at the Indian Squash and Triathlon Academy in Chennai between November 17 and 23. A total of 417 players from 26 states are scheduled to compete across 11 events, including men, women, pro-coach, and masters in the age group of 35 to 70 years.
Tamil Nadu's Abhay Singh, who is the defending champion in the men's event, will participate for the third time in the national championship. His statemate Velavan Senthilkumar was the runner-up last year and is seeded third while West Bengal's Ramit Tandon is the second seed.
Asian Games mixed doubles gold medalist Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu is fifth-seeded and all set for this 16th appearance in the championship. The Chandigarh-born squash player, who represents Tamil Nadu in the national events, has won the Nationals only once in 2014 when he upset Saurav Ghosal.
Delhi's Tanvi Khanna will be looking for her maiden national title in the absence of 19-time champion Joshna Chinappa (recovering from a knee injury) and former World No.10 Dipika Pallikal Karthik. Another prodigious player from Delhi, Anahat Singh, and Maharashtra's Urwashi Joshi are seeded second and third respectively in the women's category.
Main draws to start on November 20
There are 174 participants in the men's category and 63 in the women's. The qualifying rounds will take place from November 17 to 19. The main draws commence from November 20, when all the top-seeded players will come into action.
Speaking in the pre-championship press conference, Squash RacketsFederation of India secretary general Cyrus Poncha was quoted as saying by The Hindu:
"This will be the seventh time that Chennai will be hosting the National championship."
The total cash prize money for the event is ₹8.8 lakh.
