Pune ,may 12
Indian squash players Urwashi Joshi and Suraj Kumar Chand secured the men’s and women’s titles at the Poona Club Open tournament held in Pune, Maharashtra on Sunday.
The 28-year-old Urwashi was the top-seed at the Professional Squash Association (PSA) Challengers Tour event, defeated USA’s young sensation Diya Yadav by 3-1 (11-9, 9-11, 11-8, 11-5). This is the first-ever edition of the Poona Club Open squash tournament, as per Olympics.com. Suraj on the other hand, defeated Sri Lanka’s top-seeded Ravindu Laksiri by 3-1 (12-14, 11-8, 11-6, 12-10) to clinch the men’s event.
This is Suraj’s second title in the PSA Challenger Tour this year after last month’s Hamdard Squashters Northern Slam 2024 tournament in New Delhi. In that same tournament, Anahat Singh won the women’s singles title however she did not play in Pune.In the women’s semifinals, Joshi, who secured the bronze medals in the 2021 and 2022 Asian Championships, beat Anjali Semwal, the third-seeded player by Anjali Semwal 3-1 (11-9, 9-11, 11-8, 11-9). Diya also beat second-seeded Sunita Patel of India to register a 3-0 (11-8, 15-13, 11-6) win.In the men’s semi-finals, Suraj beat Shamil Wakeel of Sri Lanka by 3-0 (11-3, 11-4, 11-8) while Laksiri ended the campaign of wildcard Diwakar Singh’s run following a 3-0 (11-3, 11-8, 12-10) victory.
