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It was the end of the Indian challenge at the New Zealand Squash Open after Abhay Singh and Velavan Senthilkumar made exits from the second round of men’s event at the Mercury Arena and Devon Squash Centre in Tauranga on Thursday, December 7.
Velavan lost to top-seeded and home boy Paul Coll in straight sets 11-7, 11-1, 11-2 in a 28-minute match. Asian Games double medalist Abhay saw an identical result while facing Frenchman Baptiste Masotti, who took just 24 minutes to wrap the game at 11-8, 11-5 & 11-1.
Just a couple of weeks after playing the final at the National Squash Championship, the two Indian youngsters won their respective round matches.
Reigning national champion Velavan, who played his first Silver event, caused a huge upset against Pakistan-born American Shahjan Khan, beating the high-ranked player 3-2 (11-5, 11-1, 5-11, 9-11). Abhay also got the better of another USA player, Andrew Douglas, with a 3-2 margin.
In the women’s event, Akanksha Salunkhe lost to Malaysia’s Aira Azman 3-0 in an apparent one-sided affair with the scoreline reading 11-5, 11-7 & 11-9 in a match that just lasted for 21 minutes.
Abhay Singh, Velavan Senthilkumar end the year with great learnings
The New Zealand Squash Open was the final world tour event of this year. Abhay hogged the limelight by participating in the 2023 Team Squash World Cup in Chennai along with veterans Saurav Ghosal and Joshna Chinappa.
He won the gold in the men’s event at the Asian Games 2023, making a remarkable comeback in the final game against Noor Zaman after trailing 1-2 and then saved two match points in the decider to hand India another gold after 2014.
But Abhay lost the National Championship to his state mate Commonwealth Games men’s doubles partner Velavan in the final. The Salem-born player won in straight sets to complete a sweet revenge for his last year’s national finals and also bag his first national championship at the senior level. This comes after the 25-year-old won four PSA titles, gaining enough international exposure.
