Joshna Chinappa and Indian squash have been great partners for long and the journey continues. Her first exposure to squash was as a child when she would accompany her father Anjan Chinappa to the MCC and watch him play there. At the tender age of seven she first laid her hands on a squash racquet and the rest, as they say, is history!
Joshna grew up to become one of the formidable players that India has ever produced and her career speaks for her greatness and fame. She has bagged medals at the Asian championship, the Asian Games, the Commonwealth Games, and the World junior championship, and in India she has set a record winning 19 national championship titles – something that is going to stay for long.
But what has now brought her back in the news is her latest success at the Japan Open Squash tournament – her 11th PSA tour title at age 39 plus! It is doubtful if any other player in the world has this record of winning such a title at her age. And importantly, this latest success comes after a gap of 10 years!
There is no doubting her desire to excel, her keenness to remain fit and above all her continuing hunger for success on the squash court. As the former national coach and now the Secretary General of Squash Rackets Federation of India, Cyrus Poncha says, “It has been an incredible journey for Joshna. Her Japan success over a player nearly half her age speaks of her fitness and as much of her continuing excellence on the court. It has been magnificent.”
The Chennai girl laughs it away when reminded of her age and her continuing excellence. “I am just enjoying my game. I respond to what my body tells me and that keeps my drive going,” explains Joshna when asked about her high quality play. In a physically exhausting sport like squash, fitness is the key and Joshna must be specially commended for it.
Coming from an injury and surgery phase after the last Asian Games in 2023, Joshna was inspired by her doctors who told her she could return to the courts like earlier times. She started slow and steady, and early this year she partnered the current national sensation Anahat Singh to win the women’s doubles title in the Asian championship. That perhaps set the tone for her work ahead.
At the Yokohama event in Japan, the unseeded Joshna, a former top-10 player but currently ranked at 117, beat her Egyptian opponent Haya Ali, the third seed and ranked a 53 in the world. Interestingly, just six months ago, Joshna had lost to the same Egyptian in the Bermuda Open in a five-game thriller. The Japan success has certainly hardened her resolve but she has decided to take things step by step. “Pick and choose tournaments,” will be her way and as for looking ahead, it is the next Asian Games in Japan that she has targeted. When asked what about the next Olympics where squash is making its debut, Joshna is clear “That is not in my time frame as of now.”
A Deputy Director (Sports) with the Tamil Electricity Board, Joshna Chinappa has indeed come a long way. She is thankful to everyone in the Squash Rackets Federation of India (SRFI) and the Squash Academy who have supported her right through and inspired her all the way. For the iron lady of Indian squash, the journey has not ended, there is a lot more to achieve. It would be apt to quote the famous line of Robert Frost “miles to go before I sleep”.