The city’s finest women’s squash player Urwashi Joshi is not worried about the early stages of Maharashtra State Squash Championship. The 22-year old believes that the real competition for her lies in the semi-finals and finals.
Seeded number 2 in the tournament, Urwashi feels that the players in Mumbai do not pose a great challenge to her. She picked up the racket when she was 11 watching her brother play and it did not take her long to win titles. She recalls, “I stood runner-up in my first ever nationals tournament and that was when I realised that I can pursue this sport as my career.”
Urwashi is currently training at the Jindal Squash Academy in Vasind. Before this, she had to travel a long way to practice as she lives far away from the city. After all her struggles, she has three national titles in her bag in U-13, U-15 and U-17 categories. “I have been told by many people that squash is not a game that girls play but I don’t listen to what they say. I love the game and I want to win more titles.”
Although she is ranked as one of the topmost players in Mumbai, Urwashi is keen on going abroad. “The major players have moved out of the country to train abroad. There are better facilities to train there. When I went for World Junior Championships in Poland, I saw around 15-20 courts where people can practice,” she says. “Mumbai is one of the few cities that has fine squash courts where multiple people can train or play. But there are hardly any tournaments where people can come out to play,” she says.
After completing her graduation from Mulund College of Commerce last year, Urwashi is giving her maximum time to the sport, training harder and harder every day. She had put up an impressive performance at he Women’s Nationals earlier this year losing in the semi-finals, which was later sealed by Joshna Chinappa. Urwashi admits that playing around Joshna has helped her grow over the years. “She (Joshna) is a senior player with greater experience winning medals. When I play alongside her in the same tournaments, she helps me a lot to improve and when we are against each other, there is pressure,” she says.
Meanwhile, things could not get easier for Urwashi at the championship. She had an easy passage to the last eight. Urwashi, who had a first round bye, did not have to take to the court as she got a walkover from Dhwani Shah, who did not report for the match. “The game would not bother me that much anyway,” she quipped.
On being asked about her goal in squash, she responds, “Now that I am done with my studies, I am devoting a major chunk of time for practice. Winning a Gold at Asian Games 2018 is my goal currently. And of course, every sportsperson wants to represent their country at the Olympics,” she signs off.
