Ghosal, Joshna headline field for Senior National Squash

While Ghosal could face challenge from the likes of Ramit Tandon, Harinder Pal Sandhu and Abhishek Pradhan with defending champion Mahesh Mangaonkar not participating, 17-time title-winner Joshna will come up against the likes of Sunayna Kuruvilla, Tanvi Khanna and Urwashi Joshi.

A total of 402 entries have been received from 25 States for various categories and this includes the top ten-ranked women players in the country and top seven in the men’s section. The National Championships returns to Chennai after a gap of nine years. This would be the fifth time ISA would be staging the prestigious Championships.

Performance in the tournament would be a criterion for the selection of the men’s and women’s squads for the Asian Team Championships, to be held in Kuala Lumpur from March 25 to 29. Apart from the men’s and women’s singles, the Championships include pro-Coaches, men-over 35, over 40, over 45, over 50, over 55, over 60 and over 65 sections.

As part of the 20th anniversary celebration of ISA, a function would be held on February 14 wherein 30 trainees of the academy, who had accounted for 70 odd national championship titles (all age groups), would be felicitated.