"I'm Not Too Happy With The Colour Of The Medal": Anahat Singh's Candid Confession To NDTV

Rising Indian squash star Anahat Singh admitted she was disappointed with her performance in the women's singles final but said she would use her Asian Games silver as a learning experience after losing 4-11, 4-11, 7-11 to Malaysia's defending champion Sivasangari Subramaniam. Speaking to NDTV, Anahat acknowledged that things do not always go as planned and said she will use the experience to learn, improve and make the most of future opportunities to qualify for the Olympics.

Q: Joining me is Anahat Singh, the silver medallist from the Asian Games. Anahat, you must be aware that you're the first woman single silver medallist from India. Does that come with a very special feeling?

Anahat Singh: I mean, I did not know that that was the case until yesterday when I opened Instagram and saw that.

But I mean, it definitely does feel great seeing that. And, you know, I mean, there's been so many greats of the sport like Joshna and Deepika who played this event, and just getting a chance to, you know, be at the same level as them and, you know, represent the country and make the nation proud is something that I'm, you know, of course, really grateful for. But I mean, definitely not too happy with the colour of the medal.

And it's my first time playing the singles, so there's definitely a lot for me to learn. But I'm going to take this on with me and try to learn from it as much as possible.

Q: You mentioned about Joshna, and Joshna is here, and we heard her, you know, yelling at you and calling your name out from the sidelines, saying, "Go, Annie, go." Did you hear her cheering for you from the sidelines?

Anahat Singh: Yeah, I definitely did hear her. I saw her on the side as well while I was playing. And, you know, we have a really good relationship off court.

I'm sharing a room with her here, and we spend a lot of time together. And I mean, she's someone that I really look up to. She's got so many medals for the country in squash, and she's one of the best squash players India has ever seen in the world.

But I mean, I really admire her and look up to her and just try to learn from her as much as possible.

Q: Talking about this match, Anahat, can you please tell me where did you think you slipped up because you played a very, very tough match in the previous round?

Anahat Singh: I mean, there's definitely a lot that I could have done differently. There's still a lot for me to learn.

She's number five in the world, so there's a lot that she's better at than I am. But yeah, I mean, I'm just going to take this match as a learning experience, and there's going to be a lot more different times I'm going to play her. I'm going to play players at a similar level as her and just in the PSA Tour as well.

So I'm going to learn as much as I can from this and just watch the match back a few times, trying to see where such a big gap came in. But yeah, I'm just going to take it one step at a time.

Q: One last question. You are in the front page of a newspaper today which says that Howard can wait. How long is Howard waiting?

Anahat Singh: I honestly don't know the answer to that question. I can't assure anything.

But I mean, as of now, the plan is just for a year.

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