Injured Abhay Singh withdraws from NSCI Squash Open

Abhay Singh

India's star squash player Abhay Singh, who was a part of the men's team that won gold at the Hangzhou Asian Games, has withdrawn from the 7th NSCI Squash Open (September 14-18) due to a twisted ankle. In his absence, Rahul Baitha has been given the top billing in the tournament that gets underway on Saturday.

On Wednesday, Singh, who rose to his career-best 57 in the PSA world rankings recently, informed the organisers via email about his withdrawal from the 2,00,000 INR prize money tournament. Talking about Singh's unavailability, Jairaj Thakker, squash co-convenor of NSCI, told www.mid-day.com: "We were keen that Abhay [Singh], who was the top seed, comes here so that everyone gets to watch him play. Unfortunately, he sent an email stating that he has an ankle injury due to which he wishes to withdraw."

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Meanwhile, some of the finest talents from India and Sri Lanka will vie for top honours in various categories - men, women and junior categories (U-11 to U-19). Thakker explained that a special women's over 35 category has also been organised to revive the women's circuit.