Asian Games 2026: Go for the gold! Saurav Ghosal identifies India’s biggest challenge and motivation

Anahat Singh carries India’s squash gold medal hopes at the 2026 Asian Games. (ANI) New Delhi: For the first time in 24 years, Saurav Ghosal will be watching the Asian Games from the sidelines. The former Indian number one, whose first appearance at the continental event came in Busan 2002, retired with nine medals: two gold, two silver and five bronze. But he did so with one lingering regret: no singles gold medal.Now his role has changed. Ghosal is mentoring teenage sensation Anahat Singh, who is taking India’s gold medal hopes to Aichi-Nagoya. With squash also offering its gold medalists direct qualification for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, the stakes are higher than ever.Speaking to TimesofIndia.com, Ghosal reflected on watching instead of playing, preparing Anahat for the biggest tournament of her young career and why India should judge this team by medals – not potential.“I wish I was there. I wish I was still playing. It was the best time of your life, at least of my life,” said Ghosal, who missed his first Asian Games since 2002.For Ghosal, the Asian Games has always stood apart from the professional tour – not because of the attention it attracts, but because of what it represents.“It’s more about having the honor of playing for India, winning for India and being proud of it. I think that makes it something that is intrinsically bigger than a normal event,” he admitted.

I wish I was there. I wish I could still play. The best times of your life, at least of my life

Saurav Ghosal is not at the Asian Games for the first time since 2002

The straight knockout format, he added, leaves little room for error.“You have to be laser focused at these events because one bad day can ruin the whole event. Especially in a sport like ours where there are straight knockouts. So you focus on yourself, focus on the things you have to do well. And you focus on what you do on and off the court. That’s just as important in an event where it’s quite long and the things you focus on more as a professional than what we do. can happen outside your bubble,” he explained.Anahat’s Gold Medal Preparation: Clarity Over Change

File photo of Indian squash player Anahat Singh. (PTI)

Eighteen-year-old Anahat Singh enters the Games after a remarkable rise that has made her one of India’s genuine medal contenders. Instead of changing her game, Ghosal says she focused on tactical clarity against specific opponents.“Overall, she’s an all-rounder. I think it’s about understanding who you’re playing in this tournament, what your opposition is going to look like, trying to get extreme clarity on how you’re going to play them, how you’re going to react to what they’re going to do to you and do it in a way that works to your advantage,” the 40-year-old Ghosal said.According to him, execution is the difference between preparation and performance.“There’s no guarantee it will work out. But you have to build the building blocks in your mind to have a chance to present it in court,” he reasoned.Anahat comes with expectations few Indian teenagers have faced in squash. Ghosal’s advice is rooted in a mindset that has sustained him throughout his own career.

Saurav Ghosal alongside Anahat Singh.

“The good thing about her is that she’s pretty carefree. She’s a happy person. So that helps. I think that’s helped her over the years. The expectation comes back to the same thing that you’re not in control. And it’s all about perception,” Ghosal said.“When I was playing, I always thought that if there was an expectation, it meant that people actually believed in me. And that meant that I had something in me (that) I was actually good enough. It was almost like a re-emphasis of the belief that I had that, ‘OK, I might actually be good enough to do this’.”The key, he says, is to prevent the mind from drifting toward results.“If you just think of it on those lines when you’re playing, it’s kind of like tricking your mind with a little bit of all the information you need to kind of occupy it so you don’t have time to think about, ‘Oh, what if I don’t win a medal?’ Because it won’t help you win. That’s not going to help you play better.”

You almost fill your mind with all the things you need to do to play well. And it’s almost like the opposite of an idle mind is the devil’s workshop

Saurav Ghosal

“So you almost fill your mind with all the things you need to do to play well. And it’s almost like the opposite of an idle mind is the devil’s workshop.”“So you don’t want that mind to be idle in a negative sense. You want that mind to be calm, but you still want things going on in your mind that are related to you playing better. And those are the things that you do on the court and off the court. It’s helped me over the years and that’s what we tell Anahat to do as well,” he added.Real rivals and an Olympic opportunityFormer Indian coach Major Maniam has termed both Anahat and Abhay Singh as genuine medal hopes, a sentiment shared by Ghosal.“There’s no doubt that they both enter these games as genuine medal contenders. It would be disappointing for them personally if they don’t at least get a medal.”The greater prize, however, is gold. Under the qualification system, the Asian Games singles champion will qualify directly for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, where squash will make its Olympic debut.Ghosal acknowledges that the Olympic incentive makes the tournament “definitely bigger” but insists it’s not something that’s talked about every day in the camp.“It would be disappointing for them personally if they don’t at least get a medal. Obviously the big prize at these Asian Games is gold because that gives you an Olympic qualification spot. And of course that’s the big thing. And it’s hard and rightly so. It shouldn’t be easy to get an Olympic qualification spot.”“The idea, of course, is that whether Anahat wins it or not, he’s going to fight for the Olympics. And when you get to the Olympics, you want to try to win something. So it’s a journey that has to happen. Even if he wins gold here and gets to the Olympics, that’s not the end of it, because it just doesn’t guarantee you anything. It guarantees that you won’t be there, but that you won’t be there, but that you’ll be there.” to try and do something there, so I think the journey continues,” added Saurav.Goal: Medal in every race

India won five medals in squash at the 2022 Asian Games. (PTI)

India entered the 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou with eight members who won five medals, including two gold. Along with Malaysia, India topped the continental showpiece in squash medals. Three years later, Ghosal has stopped calling himself the deepest team ever, but he leaves little ambiguity about the standard he should meet.“Sport is black and white, isn’t it? There’s no subjectivity. I think medals are the most objective barometer to be honest. We should have a medal as a bare minimum at every event we participate in.”That is, women’s singles, men’s singles, mixed doubles and both team events. I think that’s the bare minimum. I think if we don’t get a medal in any of them, it’s disappointing. What would really take it to the next level is the amount of gold we can get.His ambitious goal is even higher.“Let’s say three golds. And one of them is in singles… if we can do that, then it’s a big game for Indian squash. It’s not that we’re unrealistic, but it’s not easy,” he concluded.