National Squash | Playing abroad has helped boost my confidence immensely, says Tanvi Khanna

Tanvi Khanna, 27, conceded the women's final to 15-yr-old Anahat Singh at the Squash Nationals. She spoke of needing foreign training and sparring partners, and felt her confidence had shot up after playing abroad. Tanvi won bronze at the Asian Games, but believes the team could have done better if the govt. had sponsored more players.

Tanvi Khanna cut a sorry figure on Thursday. The 27-year-old, with an apparent right knee injury, conceded the women’s final to the 15-year-old Anahat Singh at the Squash Nationals here.

She had spoken about finding a foreign training base on Wednesday. “I now need to start travelling abroad (for training). Maybe I can find a base to play with other (foreign) players. And, of course, the coaches abroad are also amazing. But I need more funding for that,” she said after her semifinal victory.

The primary reason is quite interesting. “I do need sparring partners. That’s what I don’t get. So, I’m only playing with boys. And when I play with girls, the game is very different.”

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Tanvi felt that her confidence had shot up since she’d played a reasonable number of tournaments abroad this season.

“I’ve not played so many tournaments abroad. So, I was lacking that exposure. But, I got the chance to play five or six abroad this year, and I feel like it’s helped me immensely.”

She had won the women’s team bronze at the Hangzhou Asian Games but felt that the team “could have easily finished with the gold or the silver.”