GUWAHATI: India’s Anahat Singh and Abhay Singh fell short in their respective singles finals at the Asian Games 2026 in Nagoya on Sunday, September 27, settling for silver medals and missing the chance to secure early Olympic quotas for the 2028 Los Angeles Games.
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Anahat lost the women’s singles final to Malaysia’s Sivasangari Subramaniam 3-0 (11-4, 11-4, 11-7), while Abhay was defeated by Malaysia’s Ng Eain Yow 3-0 (11-9, 11-5, 11-5).
Both Malaysian players entered the finals as the defending Asian Games singles champions.
A victory for either Indian player would have made them the first Indian singles squash players to win Asian Games gold.
Despite the loss, Anahat created history by becoming the first Indian woman to win a silver medal in singles squash at the Asian Games. Earlier, Dipika Pallikal and Joshna Chinappa had won bronze medals in the event.
Abhay, meanwhile, became only the second Indian man to win silver in Asian Games singles squash, after Saurav Ghosal, who reached the finals at the 2014 Incheon and 2023 Hangzhou Games.
Abhay had not dropped a single game on his way to the final and started strongly against Ng Eain Yow, going toe-to-toe in the opening game before losing 11-9. The Malaysian then pulled away in the next two games, winning 11-5, 11-5.
India had already secured a bronze medal in squash at the Games after Joshna Chinappa and Velavan Senthilkumarfinished third in the mixed doubles event on Saturday.