Squash
Shaurya Bawa: A bronze and a brave new beginning
A bronze medal at the prestigious World junior squash championships augurs well for the sport in India.
Shaurya Bawa has shown plenty of promise in a short span of time. (Photo Credit: X@indiasquash)
When Shaurya Bawa went down to Mohamed Zakaria, the top seeded Egyptian, in the boys’ singles semifinals of the World junior squash championships in Houston on Tuesday, there was a moment of anguish.
Thereafter, when he took stock of the score (5-11, 5-11, 9-11) and reflected on his performance at the tournament, there was satisfaction.
And a coveted bronze medal, was an apt consolation prize.
Congratulations 🥳🏆🇮🇳 to Shaurya Bawa! Shaurya wins Bronze at the World Juniors Championship 2024 !! @WorldSquash @indiasquash @IndiaSports @Media_SAI @HclSports @IndiaDunlop #WSFWorldJuniorsSquashChampionship #IndianSquash #Houston #SquashStars pic.twitter.com/oRPAlPAuK1
— SRFI (@indiasquash) July 18, 2024
Just the second Indian male
Earlier on Monday, Bawa had won a thriller against Low Wa-sern from Malaysia to earn a semi-final spot.
He had saved three match balls and clawed his way back to post a remarkable 2-11, 11-4, 10-12, 11-8, 12-10 victory.
In doing so, Bawa became the first Indian to reach the last four at the World junior event since Kush Kumar in 2014.
Plenty of promise
An alumnus of The Sri Ram School in Delhi, Bawa picked up squash at an early age.
He played the sport right through high school and even captained the team at Delhi’s Modern School, with the school winning the IPSC (Indian Public Schools Conference) Squash Team Championships in 2022.
Bawa is currently based in New York and attends Columbia University while pursuing a Bachelor of Arts degree.
Despite still being a teenager, Bawa has already represented India in multiple international events.
In 2022, he was placed 5th at the World Junior Team Championships. In the same year, he bagged a bronze medalist at the Dutch Junior Open 2022.
More success followed in 2023 when he won a silver medal at the Asian Junior Team Championships 2023. Thereafter, he secured a top-20 finish at the World Junior Individual Championships 2023.
Bawa, who boasts of a 3.7 GPA in the academic program at Columbia University, has shown plenty of promise thus far. But time will tell if he can make the tough transition to the highly competitive senior circuit.
For now, though, Indian squash will rejoice at Shaurya Bawa’s achievement and hope that this is just the beginning.
