Rising as a pack: India men’s squash making rapid strides ahead of Asiad

Not too long ago, India’s male squash field was largely a one-man army carrying the country's flag at the top level.

- Rutvick Mehta

Now, it'sa troop of men pushing each other to raise their markers individually and, with it, Indian squash collectively.

Four Indians lie in and around the world’s top 50 of the men’s PSA rankings: Abhay Singh (26th), Ramit Tandon (37th), Veer Chotrani (43rd) and Velavan Senthilkumar (5Ist).

That's not usual for Indian squash, in which Saurav Ghosal was the runaway leader for years and, although he had some others behind him at different points, the gap was often wide.

It's never been closer. Once Ghosal walked away Tandon took over the India No.1 tag. At present, it rests with Abhay. At this week's JSW Indian Open, a PSA Copper event, four of the top five men’s seeds are Indians. For this year’s Asian Games, which offers a ticket to the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, there’s set to be a jostle for men's singles spots anda solid group to defend the team gold.

“These are promising times for the men’s team, looking at the Asian Games at least,” said Abhay.