Mumbai, March 18 Having become the youngest Asian to enter the top-20 of world squash rankings, 17-year-old Anahat Singh knows that breaking the top-10 barrier will be much harder as she strives for excellence at the highest level.
Dipika Pallikal and Joshna Chinappa reached as high as 10th in the PSA rankings but were unable to make further inroads. With age and special talent on her side, the 20th-ranked Anahat can achieve what no Indian has done before.
"I know it's going to be quite tough; breaking into the top 20 wouldn't be as hard as it would be to get into the top 10 because now that you're at a high stage, even going up by one spot is quite tough," Anahat told
"I know it's going to be hard, and I know that it's going to take quite some time. I'm really looking forward to training hard and improving my game and playing with the top players."
The weight of expectations bears heavily on sports prodigies across the world, but for India's top-ranked female squash player, it is about not getting nervous and meeting the expectations she has set for herself.
"I don't think too much about the expectations. I try to just focus on -- because I know what I expect from myself -- and I know what I can do at tournaments and against the top players.
"It's more about my expectations for myself than the others, where I don't really get too nervous when I'm going into play tournaments. I just focus on taking it one step at a time and making sure that I'm playing my best squash," she added.
Yet, as she revels in her steady rise in the world of squash, Anahat admits she also needs to revise her plans and formulas of success with her coaches if the need arises.
"If I ever do, it's just about talking to my coaches and getting that level of confidence from them when they run in the game plan and they know that I'm familiar with what I'm doing," she said.
"...just talking to them and just visualising myself is something that helps me if I'm a bit nervous in matches."
The youngest ever to win an Asian Games medal at the age of 15, Anahat believes in keeping it simple.
"Sometimes, if you're playing too many tournaments back-to-back, you get a bit tired, your shots don't end up going the way they're supposed to be. It's just about making sure you get back to that and you're able to play your game."
Anahat said changing her way of playing is not her style.
"...and making sure that sometimes you don't need to really change anything, but just refresh it. Make sure that your fitness is on point, your game is on point, and just do your basic practice session as to what you usually do before tournaments and what you're familiar with," she said.
"That's something that really helps me, instead of changing too much, because that's not really my style," Anahat added.
With squash set to make its Olympic debut in the LA28 Games, Anahat said she is excited with the fact that the sport will be noticed by more Indians.
"When they see all the players playing at the Olympics, I think the Indian crowd is going to really enjoy it, getting to see a new sport and new people at the event which they might have never seen before," she said.