Indian No.1s Abhay Singh and Anahat Singh have been crowned Indian Open squash champions, after beating Veer Chotrani and Hana Moataz respectively on finals day at the Cricket Club of India.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The first of those two finals included 18-year-old Anahat, who has taken the squash world by storm this season, climbing inside the world\u2019s top 20 with a string of sensational results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She came into this event as the No.1 seed and defending champion, but had second seed Hana Moataz standing between her and the trophy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But with the home crowd behind her, Anahat made a lightning-fast start, racing to a one-game lead in just five minutes, with her full array of attacking shots on display.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The second game followed a similar pattern, with Anahat\u2019s free-flowing style dominating proceedings, and she soon had a two-game lead and victory within her sights, inside 15 minutes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Moataz, though, responded well, moving into a 9-4 lead in game three to wrestle some momentum back in her favour, and while Anahat threatened a comeback by closing the gap back to 10-9, Moataz held firm, crunching a backhand down the right-hand wall that a sprawling Singh could not return.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Key to much of Anahat\u2019s early-career success, however, has been her remarkable poise and composure on court, and she showed more of the same here, particularly after losing the first three points of game four.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sticking to her game plan, she continued to attack and use her well-disguised boast, quickly erasing the deficit and bringing up four championship balls at 10-6.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She only needed one of those, too, fittingly closing out victory with a nonchalant backhand boast winner, turning to the crowd and raising her arm aloft in celebration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI think I played really well in the first two games,\u201d she said after her win.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI went a bit off track in the third \u2013 I think I got a bit too excited that I was winning \u2013 but I spoke to my coach when he came to my corner and he told me just to focus on getting a good start because it\u2019s a very important game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI think I stuck to the game plan really well and I\u2019m glad I was able to get through it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Not only did victory ensure Anahat retained the title she won here in Mumbai last year, but it also secured her a 16th crown on the PSA Squash Tour, and her second in a World-level event following a triumph at the Squash of Fire Open earlier this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Her success also guaranteed an Indian double in this event, with the men\u2019s final that followed being an all-Indian encounter between Abhay Singh and Veer Chotrani.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Abhay is the Indian No.1 but hometown favourite Chotrani \u2013 who is from Mumbai \u2013 had won the pair\u2019s only previous Tour meeting, and had plenty of support in the crowd.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Abhay had a number of his own fans cheering him on, though, and took a tight opening game 11-9, with the players never have been separated by more than two points.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Chotrani made the better start to game two, moving 6-2 in front to put himself in a strong position to level the scores, but Abhay \u2019s consistent hitting got him back into the contest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Having leveled at 8-8, Abhay reeled off three points on the bounce to move two games in front, and from there, barely took a step back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He stormed into a 6-2 lead and was practically running to the service box between points, determined to keep the tempo high and the momentum on his side.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He would not have to wait long for victory, either, with a stroke decision in the front-left corner handing him victory on match ball at 10-4, bringing an end to a memorable week of squash in Mumbai.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Result: Women\u2019s Final<\/strong> Result: Men\u2019s Final<\/strong> Indian No.1s Abhay Singh and Anahat Singh have been crowned Indian Open squash champions, after beating Veer Chotrani<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10852,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[37],"class_list":["post-10851","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international","tag-squash"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t
[1] Anahat Singh (IND) bt. [2] Hana Moataz (EGY) 3-1: 11-5, 11-6, 9-11, 11-6 (34m)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
[2] Abhay Singh (IND) bt. [4] Veer Chotrani (IND) 3-0: 11-9, 11-8, 11-4 (32m)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"