India’s Abhay Singh and Velavan Senthilkumar, the top seeds, successfully defended their title at the 3rd Asian Doubles Squash Championships in Sarawak, Malaysia. They defeated the South Korean duo in a quick and intense match. Meanwhile, Rahul Baitha and Suraj Chand secured a victory against Singapore but faced a narrow loss to Japan in another pool.
In the mixed doubles category, Velavan and Joshna Chinappa, the second seeds, triumphed over their opponents from Chinese Taipei. They are aiming to improve on their bronze medal from the previous year. In the women’s doubles event, Joshna and Rathika Seelan, also second seeds, won all their matches on the first day against teams from Singapore, Japan, and India.
Seventh seed Janet and Pooja displayed a strong performance by winning their remaining matches of the day. They defeated higher-seeded opponents and overcame a team from Singapore. Last year, India dominated all three categories at the championships, with Abhay and Anahat Singh winning the mixed title. Anahat is currently preparing for the World Junior Championships in Canada next month.
Abhay’s recent participation in the British Open saw him narrowly losing to Egyptian world No 8 Mohamad Zakaria in a closely contested match.
