Asian Games 2026: India women’s squash lose 1-2 to Hong Kong in Nagoya, finish with bronze

India’s women’s squash team was beaten 1-2 by Hong Kong in the semifinals of the Asian Games in Nagoya on Thursday and settled for the bronze medal.

Already guaranteed a podium finish, India had aimed to improve on their Hangzhou 2022 showing; much of the responsibility fell on 18-year-old Anahat Singh (world No. 17), who lost a dramatic opener to world No. 25 Sin Yuk Chan 2-3 (11-9, 11-8, 6-11, 11-13, 10-12) after squandering four match points.

Anahat started strongly, taking the first two games and reaching 10-6 in the fourth before Sin mounted a comeback; Anahat fell 7-9 in the fifth, fought back to 9-9, saved a match point with a backhand drop, but Sin secured another match point and closed out the contest. “I was 2-0 up and had a great chance of winning, but I wasn’t really able to convert the game. Of course, it doesn’t always go to plan, but Tanvi did incredibly well coming back and backing up that match and winning against an amazing player,” Anahat said later.

World No. 73 Tanvi Khanna replied with a 1-3 (4-11, 13-11, 11-9, 13-11) victory over world No. 40 Ka Yi Lee, erasing an early deficit to pull India back into contention; she lost the first game quickly, won a tight second after extended rallies and saved and earned match points in the fourth before converting her second match point to seal the win.

Veteran Joshana Chinappa, a former world top-10 player, was beaten in straight games by world No. 39 Ho Tze Lok, 4-11, 7-11, 9-11, with the match lasting 21 minutes; Joshana trailed by six match points in the third but saved five before ultimately losing. “Yeah, definitely very disappointed, we had come so close to, obviously, the mixed doubles as well. But we played our best and with that I’m really happy with just the effort level,” Joshna said. “Of course the team event as well, we had come really close to also beating them, but yeah, this is what happens sometimes and it’s tough, but at least I’m so proud of my team.” She added: “I felt like I only got into the match a little bit later and it was too late by then. But all credit to my opponent, she played really well. She was very attacking in the beginning as well, and yeah, she played well the whole match.”

Anahat, who also won silver in the women’s singles at these Games, has taken her Asian Games medal total to four, having won two bronze medals at the previous edition. “Of course, I’m happy to get a medal in both of the events and I expect and hope for better in both of them, but I’m going to try to learn as much as I possibly can from this event,” the 18-year-old said. “It’s been a long 14 days of a lot of squash, there’s a lot that I can learn from this and I’ll just go back and revise all of this and just reflect on it. The season has just started.”