Velavan Senthilkumar wins Czech Open squash title
The fourth-seeded Indian defeated top seed Greg Lobban to secure his 12th PSA Tour title in Brno.
Indian squash player Velavan Senthilkumar won the USD 35,000 Czech Open by defeating top seed Greg Lobban of Scotland in the final in Brno. According to The Assam Tribune, the fourth-seeded Senthilkumar, who is ranked 42nd in the world, won the match 13-11, 11-5, 8-11, 11-7.
This victory marks Senthilkumar's 12th PSA Tour title and his second at the Copper level. He previously won his first Copper-level title at the Budapest Open in August after defeating Balazs Farkas of Hungary.
To reach the final, Senthilkumar defeated Diego Gobbi of Brazil in the second round and eighth seed Jeremias Azana of Argentina in the quarterfinals. He then beat Auguste Dussourd of France 11-7, 12-10, 11-1 in the semifinals.
Lobban reached the final after a straight-games victory over Toufik Mekhalfi of France. The final saw Senthilkumar take the first two games before Lobban won the third 11-8, before the Indian closed the contest 11-7.
Senthilkumar recently won two bronze medals at the 2026 Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya in the mixed team competition with Joshna Chinappa and as part of the Indian men's team. The men's team lost 2-1 to Malaysia in the semifinals.
In a separate event, the USD 241,000 US Open in Philadelphia saw top seed Mostafa Asal of Egypt defeat Indian players Abhay Singh and Veer Chotrani in the opening and second rounds respectively.