Pune girl Yoshna wins U-17 National title

Pune: City girl Yoshna Singh took yet another step towards getting into national reckoning as she braved her hamstring injury suffered in the quarterfinals and went on to claim the Junior National Squash title in Girl’s Under-17 category in the 2018 National Championship at the Sawai Man Singh Stadium in Jaipur over the weekend.

The second seeded Yoshna had endured tough time in the quarterfinals against Avani Nagar, but in the final she played composed game against top seeded Ananya Dabke and won in five sets—11-7, 12-14, 11-5, 9-11, 12-10.

“It was one of the toughest match of the tournament that went into five sets wherein I was 1-6 down in the decider, but pulled through on sheer confidence,” is how Yoshna described her triumph.

Playing in her city of birth, Yoshna had made easy work of Gurlin Kaur in the first round, but it was in the quarterfinals that she injured her hamstring while attempting to pick a difficult ball.

“I told her not to shift too much in long term perspective and she pulled through. There was no point in going for difficult balls,” her mentor and father Ghanshyam told Sakal Times.

Yoshna has been making steady progress since she began playing competitive squash after taking up the sport when she was 10. This incidentally was Yoshna’s second straight Girls Under-17 National title and next year she would move up to Under-19 age group.

“I am very happy to have won this title this year as this is my last year in this age group. It was a dream come true,” said Yoshna, who credited her title win to her coaches Abhinav Sinha and Avdesh Yadav.

Student of Vibgyor High School, NIBM, Yoshna has made impact on the national circuit for a past few years and now she would try her hand at earning herself a berth in the Indian team for Asian Team Championship scheduled in Thailand in February 2019.

She next heads to Chennai for the national trials wherein Indian team for the Asian Team championship would be selected for various age groups.

What is lined up for Yoshna Singh
 National trials to pick Indian team for Asian Team Championship are scheduled in Chennai on November 19.
 Yoshna will then head to the US Open on December 15.
 Veritable British Junior Open Squash on January 2 will be her major assignment given the quality of players that descend in England. The  2019 event will be played at four venues in Edgbaston, Birmingham and Solihull.

Results:
Yoshna Singh’s road to title:
Final: bt 1-Ananya Dabke 11-7, 12-14, 11-5, 9-11, 12-10.
Semifinal: bt Amira Singh 12-10, 12-10, 9-11, 11-3.
Quarterfinal: bt Avani Nagar 11-4, 4-11, 11-6, 11-6.
First round: bt Gurlin Kaur 11-7, 11-1, 11-5.