NEW DELHI: Newly-crowned junior squash world champion Anahat Singh has revealed that she placed her academic goals at the prestigious Harvard University on hold this year to give herself the best chance of winning a medal at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
Anahat's original plan was to follow in her elder sister Amira's footsteps and pursue higher education at the Harvard.
But bolstered by the title triumph in her fifth and final attempt, the 18-year-old now wants to put all her energies into preparing for the upcoming Asian Games and the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics in a couple of years' time.
Anahat has been living out of the suitcase for as far as she can remember, juggling top level squash and school. Having graduated from school only a couple of months ago, Anahat has now chosen to focus on the sport to take her game to the next level.
"I was supposed to go to college this year, but I decided to take a gap year because of the Asian Games coming up. And now I understand that this year is really important for me regarding squash and, the build up to the LA 2028 (Games)," Anahat told PTI in an interview referring to her plans for squash's Olympic debut.
"So, yeah, I mean, just focusing on this year, outside of school, because I've been doing that for the last 12 years (smiles). I'm just focusing on squash for a year and just making sure that I'm at my peak going in to LA 28," she said.
Having got the monkey off her back with a world junior title in her fifth and final appearance, Anahat's next big assignment is the Asian Games in Japan in September-October.
If Anahat is to win gold, she will have to find ways to upstage higher-ranked players like world number five Sivasangari Subramaniam from Malaysia and sixth-ranked Satomi Watanbe from Japan.
Considering the challenge ahead, the triumph in Canada that included wins over three Egyptians, will give Anahat more confidence against the world's best players. A gold in Japan would secure her automatic qualification to the Olympics.
"It (the win at world juniors) definitely adds a lot to my confidence to get into this event. I mean, if I didn't win, it wouldn't really make much of a difference, but it definitely puts me on a high now," said the youngster, who is supported by JSW Sports.
"I've played almost every single player that will be there in the Asian Games, and I know what to expect. So, just going back home and focusing on that. If I have a shot at getting a chance to be a part of the Olympics in almost two months, I think that will be a dream come true," said Anahat.
Anahat began her journey in racket sports with badminton before settling on squash.
No wonder she continues to idolise the great PV Sindhu, who was among the many who took to social media to congratulate on her path-breaking win in Ontario. Prime Minister Narendra Modi too was among them.
"Firstly seeing the Prime Minister's post was, I mean, there's no words to it really. It's amazing getting to see that and of course PV Sindhu as well. I've been following her since I've been almost four or five years old and she's been an inspiration to me ever since I got into the world of sports," she said.
Egypt has dominated squash for decades but Anahat doesn't feel any added pressure while playing the players from that country on the professional circuit. She faced three Egyptians -- in the quarters, semis and final -- and came out on top.
"The Egyptian infrastructure is basically what makes them the best. Like I went for the World Juniors last year, which happened in Egypt, and they were playing until 10, 11 pm, which was crazy," she recalled.
Anahat's support staff included world champion Gregory Gaultier from France and India great Saurav Ghosal. Both of them have dealt with success and failure in equal measure and now help Anahat with tactics and handling pressure in top level sport.
"...having Greg and Saurav by my side, I don't think I could have really asked for anything more. They've been in the top stages, they felt that sort of pressure, they know what it's like to climb up to the top," she said.
"It's not just helpful in the game aspect, but also mentally and the strategy side of it, just being able to understand what I need to do in those big moments," Anahat added.