The future belongs to Anahat Singh: Why her Asian Games squash silver is just the beginning

In the Asian Games singles women’s final, Anahat Singh, right, simply did not have enough answers to the continent’s best, Sivasangari Subramaniam. | Photo Credit: PTI

“I wanted to make a statement. I’m the best in Asia”

Sivasangari Subramaniam came to the Asian Games as the defending squash women’s singles champion. She leaves Nagoya as the reigning champion. In Asia, there is still no one better.

The 28-year-old Malaysian stamped her authority on the women’s singles final against India’s Anahat Singh, outmuscling, out-thinking and, ultimately, overwhelming the 18-year-old in a 28-minute contest that ended 11-4, 11-4, 11-6.

For much of it, Anahat wore a befuddled expression. On Sunday, she simply did not have enough answers.

For now at least.

The facade of the Takeda Teva Indoor Arena, where the squash competition is being held, has been designed around the classical lines of the Colosseum. Inside, the squash courts look as though they have been lifted from a science-fiction movie — the walls are an azure shade of plexiglass, the tramlines on the mat a fluorescent pink.

The changes are deliberate.

As squash made its bid to become part of the Olympic programme, the sport tried to shed some of the old perceptions of being the preserve of wealthy men playing in dowdy clubs. It is trying to look younger, faster and more contemporary.

At 18, Anahat is perfectly poised to become one of the faces of that new squash.

She certainly is in India.

She arrived in Nagoya as the reigning junior world champion and one of the country’s biggest hopes for a gold medal. Through much of the tournament, she lived up to the expectation. On Saturday, she produced the performance of her Games, recovering from two games down to beat Japan’s world No. 6 Satomi Watanabe in the semifinals.

A day later, she ran into the player currently setting the standard in Asia. And it didn’t go as she would have hoped.

At 18, Anahat, left, is perfectly poised to become one of the faces of that new squash. | Photo Credit: RV Moorthy

“I am not happy at all with the way I played today,” Anahat said afterwards. “I think I could have definitely done a lot better.”

She wondered if she had perhaps been carried away by the previous day’s comeback.

“Maybe I got a bit too happy winning yesterday,” she said.

Yet the silver medal was still more than she had expected when she arrived.

“I am still happy with the silver. It was more than I expected.”

It was also another lesson in what lies ahead.

Anahat has been carrying expectations for some time. At 15, she won bronze in the women’s team and mixed doubles events at the 2023 Asian Games in Hangzhou. Three years later, she returned to the continental Games as India’s leading singles hope, with considerably greater expectations attached to her.

The difference, she said, was obvious.

“I think the last Asian Games were really different. I went into that Games trying to get experience, being in a new atmosphere, environment, being around top players. I had never been in a place like that before,” she said.

“It’s been three years since then; there have been a lot of changes in my career, and a lot I have learned.”

But Sunday showed there is still plenty to learn.

Subramaniam is No. 5 in the world and a fixture on the PSA Tour. Against her, Anahat was made to feel the difference between being one of the best young players in the sport and being one of its established elite.

“Like I said before, there is still a lot for me to improve on and there is still a huge gap,” she said. “Not everyone realises, but even No. 5 and No. 6 are a huge difference.”

Inside the court, she said, that difference becomes much more tangible.

“You may not be able to always tell, but when you are inside the court, you really feel the pressure and the amount she dominated today. I can definitely give her that. There was not much for me to do. She was playing incredibly well today.”

It was not an unfamiliar opponent. Anahat had played Subramaniam before and believed she had learned from that experience. This time, though, she could not implement enough of those lessons.

“It was better than the last time I played her, if I say score-wise. There is definitely a lot that I learned from her last time. I was not able to implement it as much this time.”

The silver medal is another marker of how quickly Anahat is progressing, but it also exposed the distance still to be covered. | Photo Credit: RV Moorthy

That, perhaps, is the more important takeaway from Nagoya.

Anahat is only in her second year at this level. She has reached an Asian Games final before most players have established themselves on the senior international circuit. The silver medal is another marker of how quickly she is progressing, but it also exposed the distance still to be covered.

“One match or two matches isn’t really going to change everything about my game,” she said. “But I am definitely going to re-watch all of these and try to learn from it as much as possible, “ she says

She will have plenty of opportunities.

“I am going to play Seba (Subramaniam) many times in the future. She is on the PSA Tour. She is No. 5 in the world. She is an amazing player, so I am just going to learn from this as much as possible and just watch her back and see what mistakes I made so I can learn from them next time.”

The future may belong to Anahat. Nagoya simply reminded her that it isn’t quite here yet.

For now, Asia still belongs to Sivasangari Subramaniam.

Published on Sep 27, 2026

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