The day ended bitterly for Joshna Chinappa. The timeless talisman of Indian squash lost in the semi-finals of the National Squash Championships against Akanksha Salunkhe on Wednesday. But not after the 18-time-national champion, now 38, showed her characteristic grit in pushing her 26-year-old Goan adversary in a four-match game.
Joshna’s body has endured rigours in her two-decade-long career. She underwent a knee surgery after the 2023 Asian Games, had a small coaching gig with the Indian team, when she travelled for the World Squash Team Championships in Hong Kong last December, and most of her contemporaries had long bade farewell to the game. But Joshna’s heart still beats for the game inside the hard, glassed cages that she picked up in her early teens.
The fuel, she tells The Indian Express, is the pride in putting on the national stripes. “Well, a lot of it has to do with playing for the country and winning medals. That has been a huge motivation for me from the time I started. Today, it keeps changing because it’s much harder at this stage to put in that same level of effort and work and play in tournaments. Somehow I find the energy to do it, but there are days where it’s tough. But I have a really good team around me, coaches, trainers, dieticians, psychologists, everything,” she says.
Motivation aside, she listens to her ageing body to keep up the game that is getting faster by the day. “I think a lot of it comes down to training. What I could do in my 20s and early 30s, I can’t do now. I have pushed a lot during that time but I can’t do it today,” she said. “One needs to be smarter. For example, I came back from a knee surgery last year, so I am just looking after my body. Yes, I can get the best out of my body even today but I have to train correctly and listen to what my body tells me.”
She still trains at her old haunt, the Squash Academy in Chennai, with a familiar face, the former India international and double Asian Games gold medallist Harinder Pal Sandhu. Harinder, two years her junior and teammate in numerous tournaments, says training her is as challenging as it is with the younger lot. “It’s challenging for sure. I have played on tours with Joshna and that is one of the reasons our chemistry is good. But it comes with a different set of challenges as I have to keep her body in mind,” he says.
“For someone like Joshna, there is more emphasis on how to give her an edge on the court over the young competitors. We focus on patterns of play and how she can anticipate the attacks of her opponents. Also, the patterns vary from player to player, so it is important to adjust those patterns as well,” he explains.
While she has played three tournaments in India including the nationals, Joshna hasn’t featured much on the international tour playing just one tournament in Bermuda. “Playing the PSA tour is like living out of the suitcase. During my peak days, it was just me and Dipika Pallikal playing. Our standards have gone up at the international level since the last few years and now we are pushing for more and more PSA tours which is good,” she said.
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Not looking at Olympics
With Squash included in the 2028 LA Olympics program, the buzz around the sport has considerably increased around the globe. The sport is buzzing in India too, with a raft of youngsters such as Anahat Singh, Abhay Singh, and Velvan Senthilkumar coming through the ranks. Will the old guard of Joshna and Dipika return for one last tango? “Well, three years is a long way off. I am only taking it one month at a time right now. It takes a lot out of me every day with training and recovery and things like that. So I just want to be smart and selective with what I play. So LA 2028 is a little bit of a stretch right now,” Joshna says.
The Asian Games, though, is just a year away. It’s a more realistic target, she says. “Asian Games is certainly on the back of my mind and doubles is a great option there but it all depends on certain questions like how am I playing, am I fit, can I earn my spot in the team,” admits Joshna. Her march to the semi-final, and the fight she showed, showed that she has the tenacity to launch another medal challenge in the Games.
