Canberra to host next leg of 2023 Australian Squash Tour
Published Wed 23 Aug 2023
The Jansher Khan Canberra Open bears the name of one of the sport’s greatest players and those contending for this week PSA Challenger 6 titles will need to bring elite form to the courts of Woden Squash Centre.
India’s Tanvi Khanna (pictured) enters the tournament as one of the favourites having claimed victory in the final of last week’s Costa North Coast Open.
If Khanna’s form holds, she may find herself in a weekend showdown with compatriot and number one seed Akanksha Salunkhe who has exhibited strong form in the United States already in 2023.
The world number 75 was a finalist at the J.P Morgan LBSQUASH Summer Pro 2023 Challenger 5 tournament in Connecticut as well as the Hyder Trophy Challenger 10 in New York where she defeated Australia’s Alex Haydon in the quarter finals.
Haydon, Sarah Cardwell and Khanna round out the top four seeds in the women’s draw, while Australian World Junior Championships representatives Erin Classen and Amelie Guziak are both in action.
In the men’s draw, India’s Velavan Senthilkumar enters the tournament as the top seed and will be hoping to go one win further than last week at the Costa North Coast Open when he went down to Malaysia’s Addeen Idrakie in the Final.
Australia’s World Cup teammates Joseph White and Nick Calvert along with New Zealand number three Elijah Thomas fill out the top four seedings.
The men’s draw features athletes from eight nations with Australians taking 11 of the 22 places in the tournament.
After some small movements in the standings last week, this week’s tournament provides another opportunity to players to close in on Ryan Cuskelly and Jess Turnbull’s current positions at the top of the 2023 Australian Squash Tour..
The men’s tournament starts this evening at 5pm at Woden Squash Centre with the women’s draw commencing on Thursday. Graded and junior events will take place concurrently over the weekend with finals of all events taking place on Sunday.
For more event information and live stream details, visit the Squash ACT Facebook page.
