Asian Junior Squash Championship kicks off today in Chennai

The Tamil Nadu Squash Rackets Association under the aegis of the Squash Rackets Federation of India is organising the 25th Asian Junior Individual Squash Championships from September 26 to 29 at the Indian Squash Academy (ISA) courts in Chennai. This is the fifth time that India will be hosting this premier junior event and on all the previous occasions too in 1997, 2001, 2005 and 2009 the event was hosted in Chennai. Except for 1997, the rest were organised at the ISA.

The big difference this time is that the junior championship for boys and girls will be not be just for the U-19 age category but also for U-17, 15 and 13 categories. This is in keeping with the cycle of holding the lower age categories every year.

In all 163 participants from 10 countries will be taking part in this four-day championship which will witness matches from 10 am to 6 pm on all days at the ISA. The best of junior talents from these countries are expected to take part. Jansher Khan of Pakistan and Nicol David of Malaysia are but a couple of legends who have gone through the portals of the Asian junior championship on a triumphant note at various times.

From India's point of view, Joshna Chinappa was the first to herald the country's name to the highest point when she won the girls U-19 title in 2003 in Islamabad. She repeated the big moment again in 2005 when the championship was held in India. Dipika Pallikal Karthik was the first Indian junior to win the Asian U-15 title when the category was introduced in 2006.

Dipika was later to win the U-19 title in 2010 in Colombo. That edition also saw Ravi Dixit emerging the first male from India to win the U-19 title. In 2011, India had another girls' victor in Anaka Alankamony (U-19) in 2011 and 2012. 2012 also saw Kush Kumar emerge as U-17 winner. Veer Chotrani was India's next winner in the U-13 section in 2014 and the year 2016 saw Velavan Senthilkumar become India's second male player to win the U-19 title.

With Indian players making an impact in the championship on a regular note, the expectations are high in Chennai. As per the seedings only Yuvraj Wadhwani has won the pride of place in the boys U-13 section while Yash Fadte is seeded two in the U-17 boys section. Several others are seeded lower but there is hope of a challenging show from each of them in home conditions.