Joshna Chinappa becomes highest ranked Indian squash player

Joshna Chinappa has capped off a brilliant 2015 calendar year

Joshna Chinappa overtook her long time friend Dipika Pallikal to become India’s highest ranked Squash player. Her climb draws the curtain to a prolific 2015 calendar year for Indian squash.

The highlight of her season was getting the better of world number one Raneem El Welily in the opening round of Qatar Classic. Post that, she won a couple of $15,000 titles in Melbourne and Mumbai. A semifinal finish at the $50,000 Carol Weymuller Open in New York eventually helped her reach a career high rank of 13, a jump of nine places since December 2014.

Joshna wants to capitalise on her form as she aims to do better in the upcoming season.

In an interview Chinappa said “It has been a good year but I don’t want to stop here. I believe I can push myself. Obviously the aim is to get better, break into the top 10 and then top five. I don’t want to think that I am at the peak of my game. I am 29 and as squash history points out, a lot of players peak post 30. So I am going to keep doing what I am doing, work hard and train hard for the upcoming season,”

Joshna was the first Indian to win the British Squash Championship title in 2003 in the under 19 category and was also the youngest Indian women's national champion. She is the first beneficiary of Mittal Champions Trust and a traniee of the Indian Squash Academy.

She along with Dipika Pallikal won the squash women’s doubles gold medal at the 2014 Commonwealth Games for India.

It is the first time in five years that the 29-year old finished the season ahead of Pallikal. For Dipika, it was an unforgettable year off the court as she tied the knot with cricketer Dinesh Karthik. On the squash court, she did not have a great time by her standards.

Dipika said on this matter “It was not a great year for me to be honest. I did not play as well as I could have. The positive is that I have not lost a lot of ground in the rankings and hopefully I can get back into the top-10 with consistent performances next year.”