Kenzy Ayman from Egypt triumphs in the women’s category Abhay Singh from India triumphs in the men’s category

Chennai   : HCL, a leading global conglomerate, today announced the successful completion of the first leg of the HCL-SRFI Indian Tour for 2022, held at the Indian Squash Academy, Chennai from September 19 – 23, 2022. Abhay Singh from India won the championship in the men’s category and Kenzy Ayman from Egypt won in the women’s category. The prize purse for each of the category was $12,000.

The winners of the five-day HCL-SRFI India Tour were felicitated by Shri Dayanidhi Maran, who is currently a Member of Parliament in Lok Sabha from Chennai Central constituency. Shri N. Ramachandran who is a Patron at SRFI- Squash Rackets Federation of India was also present at the finale. The HCL-SRFI India Tour in Chennai was hosted with the support of the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports and Sports Authority of India. The tour witnessed participation from around 48 players across 10 countries that included India, Canada, Egypt, France, Japan, Russia, and Spain.

Congratulating the winners, Rajat Chandolia, Associate Vice President and Head HCL Brand, HCL Corporation said, ““We are thrilled to co-host the first leg of the HCL-SRFI Tour for this year along with SRFI. We are strong believers that India with its large young population has rich potential of squash talent that is yet to be explored. For this reason, we joined hands with SRFI and introduced initiatives including the HCL Squash Podium Program that would support our squash ecosystem by acting as an enabler that would encourage, discover, and nurture this talent at all levels. Needless to mention, that it is uniquely satisfying to see the fruits of the HCL-SRFI India Tour with players from India showcasing an outstanding performance at the Chennai leg of this PSA tour and at the Commonwealth Games 2022 as well. I congratulate all the winners and applaud all those who competed in this PSA Challenger tour. These tours will continue across different cities and an exciting season for squash is assured.”

Cyrus Poncha, Secretary-General, ‎Squash Rackets Federation of India (SRFI) said, “The Indian squash squad put-up a terrific performance at the recently concluded Birmingham Commonwealth Games (CWG) 2022. Each one of them has embraced and trained with devotion, dedication, determination, and discipline. We are glad that companies such as HCL have stepped in and committed to support unnoticed games such as squash. The HCL SRFI Indian Tour is an important platform that has honed India’s squash since its launch in 2019 and we deeply appreciate our continuing partnership. I would also like to thank all the players for their enthusiastic participation and their parents for their unwavering support in this journey. And last but not the least, we would like to express our gratitude and appreciation to Shri Dayanidhi Maran and N. Ramachandran for joining us to encourage all the sports stars present here today.”

The final match in the men’s category was played between Abhay Singh (World Rank 96) and Khaled Labib (World Rank 101) where Abhay Singh from India won the title with a score of 3-0 in a match that lasted for 22 minutes. (Men Final – [4] Abhay Singh (IND) bt [3] Khaled Labib (EGY) (3-0) 11-4, 11-3, 11-4 (22m))

In the women’s category, the final match was played between Kenzy Ayman(World Rank 61) and Sunayna Kuruvilla (World Rank 391), where Kenzy Ayman from Egypt won the title with a score of 3-0 in a match that lasted for 23 minutes. (Women Final – [1] Kenzy Ayman (EGY) bt [5] Sunayna Kuruvilla (IND) (3-0)  11-7, 11-2, 11-6 (23m))