HCL India Squash Tour 2025: Top seedings for Egypt's Yassine Shohadi, Noor Khafagi; Joshna, Nirupama withdraw; Rajasthan's Chhabi Saran in main draw
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Jaipur: Egypt's Yassine Shohadi and Nour Khafagi have been given top seeding in the men's and women's categories, respectively in the first leg of the HCL India Squash Tour 2025 starting at the Sawai Man Singh Stadium here on Monday under the joint aegis of the Squash Rackets Federation of India and HCL.
Star Indian squash players Joshna Chinappa and Nirupama Dubey withdrew just a day before the start of the tournament, allowing Rajasthan's Chhabi Saran to enter the main draw.
Squash Rackets Federation of India vice-president Surabhi Mishra said here on Sunday that Egypt's Yassine Shohadi has been given the top seed in the matches starting from Monday. Japan's Tomo Endo has got the second seed, Sri Lanka's Ravindu Laksiri has got the third seed and Malaysia's Darin Pragasus has got the fourth seed.
Surabhi Mishra informed that Suraj Kumar Chand is the only Indian in the top 8 in the men's category, who has been given the sixth seed. India's Rahul Baitha, Aryaveer Diwan, Ayan Wazir Ali and Diwakar Singh will also challenge.
Surabhi said that in the women's category too, Egypt's Noor Khafagi is the top seed. Egypt's Menna Waleed is second, Japan's Akari Midorikawa is third, while Malaysia's Go Zhi Xuan is the fourth seed.
She said that among the top-8 Indian players, Tanvi Khanna has been seeded fifth, Anjali Semwal sixth, Shamina Riyaz seventh and Zenit Vidhi eighth.
India has a total of 17 players in the women's main draw, including Sanvi Batra, Pooja Aarti, Aradhana Kasturi Raj, Anika Dubey, Tanishka Jain, Aradhana Paudwal, Sanya Bats and Unnati Tripathi.
Surabhi Mishra said that squash has also been included in the Los Angeles Olympics to be held in 2028. Keeping this in mind, the Federation and HCL India have started the India Squash Tour.
After Jaipur, the upcoming stages of the India Tour will be played in Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru, Ahmedabad and Delhi. This will provide international competition to Indian players and help them prepare for the Olympic Games.
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