For nearly a quarter of a century, Joshna Chinappa has remained one of the most enduring figures in Indian sport, a presence so constant on the squash court that her longevity now reads like a sporting outlier. At 40, the Chennai-born veteran is still fighting at the highest level, still adapting, still winning, and still chasing the one Asian Games prize that has eluded her: gold.
At the ongoing Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, Chinappa is competing in only two events — the women's team competition and mixed doubles with Velavan Senthilkumar — but the scale of the moment is far larger than the draw sheet suggests. This is her seventh Asian Games appearance, a record for an Indian sportsperson, and a feat she says she never expected to achieve.
"I honestly didn't think I would make a seventh Asian Games appearance. I just focused on my training and tournaments. It definitely feels great to be a part of the Indian team again," Chinappa said in an interview with The Hindu.
Her continued relevance is striking in a sport where careers often fade quickly. On the PSA World Tour, Chinappa's career has overlapped with three generations of elite players. Many of her contemporaries — Nicol David, Laura Massaro, Jenny Duncalf, Alison Waters and Annie Au — have long since retired. Chinappa, by contrast, remains India's third-highest ranked woman at world No. 73, behind only 18-year-old Anahat Singh, who is world No. 17, and Tanvi Khanna, ranked No. 71. She also remains one of the country's most decorated squash players, with 11 PSA titles and five Asian Games medals already in her collection.
That record has been built on more than talent. It has been sustained by discipline, adaptation and an unusually deep love for the game. Saurav Ghosal, the former men's top-10 player, captured that blend when he praised her commitment and longevity. "First and foremost, she really, really loves the game. She's immensely talented, but she has also worked tirelessly on every aspect of her game to remain at the top for as long as she has. I hope that she comes back from the Asian Games with quite a few gold medals," he said.
Chinappa has not merely survived the passage of time; she has adjusted to it. She knows she is ageing, she has tweaked her training module accordingly, and she has continued to produce at a level that keeps her in India's top tier. That ability to evolve has made her a valuable presence in a squad that blends youth and experience. In the women's team event, India's No. 3-seeded side includes Anahat Singh, Tanvi Khanna and Shameena Riaz, and has been drawn in Pool C alongside Japan, China and Iran. In mixed doubles, the third-seeded Velavan-Joshna pairing received a bye in the opening round and will face fellow Indians Suraj Chand and Shameena Riaz in the round of 16.
For Chinappa, the Asian Games have long been more than a competition. They are a thread running through her entire career, from her teenage debut in Busan in 2002 to this latest campaign in Japan. She was just 15 when she first stepped into the Games Village, surrounded by Indian sporting icons she had previously only seen from afar. One memory still stands out.
"We are usually given our official India clothing and I would obviously wear that to play and train. But in my down time at the Village, I wore a personal T-shirt at the food hall a couple of times, and legendary hockey player Dhanraj Pillay told me that I had to be in my India clothing. It's something we should always be proud of," she recalled.
That anecdote captures something central to Chinappa's career: a sense of pride in representing India that has never dimmed, even as the years have accumulated and the field has grown younger. She has already won five Asian Games medals, and her best performance, she says, came in 2018, when she claimed singles bronze and women's team silver.
Asked about the prospect of finally winning gold, Chinappa did not overstate the moment or indulge in prediction. "We have a strong team and yes, it would be great to win another medal. I have always taken my matches one at a time, so I am as prepared as I can be," she said.
That measured response reflects the same mindset that has carried her through more than two decades at the top. Chinappa has heard the doubts, seen the retirements and endured the physical demands that come with a long career. Yet she remains here, still competing, still contributing and still refusing to be defined by age. In Aichi-Nagoya, the story is not simply that Joshna Chinappa is back. It is that she never really left.