|
The 16-year-old Anika Dubey of Maharashtra clinched the silver medal at the Asian Junior Squash Championships in China on Tuesday and finished as the runner-up among the best junior players from across the continent.
Already regarded as the "Golden Girl of Pune," Anika had won an Asian medal at just 14. Two years on, she has established herself firmly among Asia's elite junior athletes, according to a press release. Anika's rise is part of a larger athlete-development movement built through the Chance2Sports Foundation Program powered by SportsSkill. The championships also saw Vasundhara Nangare and Akanksha Gupta, two more athletes from the same program, represent India, making it three players from one development ecosystem competing at Asia's premier junior squash event. The ecosystem has been built by SportsSkill co-founders Abhinav Sinha and Chetan Desai, combining elite sport experience with long-term development principles focused on recovery, conditioning, movement quality, injury prevention and mental resilience. "When you work with champions closely over many years, you realise recovery, movement quality, conditioning and discipline matter as much as hours on court. Anika embodies this. Her silver is not just a personal achievement -- it is a statement about what structured, holistic development can produce," said Abhinav Sinha, Multiple-Time National Champion & Co-Founder, SportsSkill. "I have been in sport for nearly 55 years, and I can say with conviction that what we are seeing from this generation of athletes is genuinely special. Anika's silver is the result of years of quiet, consistent work -- on court, off court and in the mind. That is the only way champions are truly built," said Chetan Desai, Veteran Tennis Champion & Co-Founder, SportsSkill. A special acknowledgement goes to the Kanga Kids Program, created in memory of the late Noshir Kanga by his wife, Deborah Kanga, which has supported all three girls through their formative years over the last 3-4 years. Noshir was a passionate squash enthusiast who played regularly at CCI alongside Naval Pandole, today one of the chief mentors and strongest supporters of the Chance2Sports initiative. Their backing has been instrumental in providing these athletes with access to coaching, tournament exposure, and long-term development support. (ANI)
|
