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Asian Games 2026: Anahat Singh's memorable run finishes with a silver
The young Indian was outclassed in the final by Malaysia's Sivasangari Subramaniam.
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Anahat Singh did not waste much time storming off the court after her last singles point at the Asian Games.
This is a teen who hates to lose — doesn’t matter that she produced her career’s biggest win the previous day and coasted along all week before that.
This is a teen who is likely to see this as a gold gone — doesn’t matter that the silver grabbed hadn’t been done by any other woman squash player in the country.
"She will be disappointed and sad, because I know how she is," Saurav Ghosal, India's squash ace mentoring Anahat, told HT after the final. "But she can be proud of her week."
She watched no Indian woman stand on the individual podium in 2023 Hangzhou from the bench as a 15-year-old. She went out there and did the job herself in 2026 Aichi-Nagoya as an 18-year-old.
And silver medallist Anahat Singh it will be. Sivasangari Subramaniam, the Malaysian world No.5 defending champion, proved too hot, too good and a level too high for the 17th-ranked Indian challenger in the 3-0 (11-4, 11-4, 11-7) sweep.
Anahat had been loud and clear about the gold being her goal at the Asian Games. More so with the added reward of a ticket to the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics almost two years out. It couldn’t be ticked off. The young Indian’s career stage and ranking, and the probability that she might stay there, at the very least, if not rise higher, though is bound to keep her Olympic dream alive, unless something extraordinary were to happen.
"We know we have things to work on internally. And these matches and events are the building blocks towards making her more potent over the next 18-20 months,” said Ghosal, the former top 10 pro. “If we do that, we're confident that she will be in a good space to not just be there (at the 2028 Olympics), but hopefully have some outside chance."
Over the past 18-20 months, the prodigious talent has only risen: from being ranked outside 500 in December 2024 to cracking the top 30 in December 2025 to now into the top 20. After gobbling up Challenger level titles, Anahat started to compete among the cream this year, and made a few dents. She won the PSA Copper Squash on Fire Open, beating the world No.10, for her career's biggest title in February. In July, she finally achieved her long-held dream of becoming the world junior champion after coming close multiple times.
The Asian Games remained her biggest target for this year. And between her and the biggest prize in it stood Sivasangari. The 27-year-old of Indian descent had been Malaysia’s top pro until a car accident in 2022 derailed her career. It has picked up pace again.
Sivasangari entered this continental stage as the player to beat, not just in Asia but in the world. She blazed into the final of the PSA Squash Tour Finals in June, defeating the current world No.1 Amina Orfi before going down to the then No.1, Hania El Hammamy. In her next tournament, the London Squash Classic in September, she dismantled Anahat while giving her just eight points across two games.
"Look, she (Siva) is in a very rich vein of form right now," said Ghosal. "She was extremely clinical, and Anahat couldn't find a way to force the door open."
After the Indian kicked things off going 3-1 up, that door remained shut for good.
Anahat was hitting the tin with her drops and clipping the side walls. Sivasangari wasn't missing anything and reeled off eight straight points to surge ahead in the first game.
The Indian teen smacked the ball in frustration during the second game. Those were the kind of signs of frustration that weren't there in her semi-final. Anahat engineered a memorable fightback against Satomi from two games down. Against Sivasangari, despite being more competitive in the third game, she couldn’t.
"She played some very good squash this week, from being clinical in the early rounds to coming back from match balls down against Satomi," said Ghosal, a nine-time Asian Games medallist.
"She can be very proud overall. This was her first crack (in singles) at the Asian Games. She's 18. You would think she'd have a few more chances."
