Putting behind her defeat in the World Junior Squash Championship final, Joshna Chinappa is now looking ahead at making a mark in the professional circuit.
Joshna, who returned to Channai on Thursday night after losing in the final to Egypt's Raneem El Weleily at Belgium, said it was not that her opponent played a superior game, "but the fact is it was not my day".
"I was not overawed, since I do not look at my rivals as 'oh, she is a highly-rated player'," Joshna said.
She, however, admitted that negative thoughts began to crowd her mind on the eve of the final.
"I did many phone-in interviews with the Indian channels before the final. Then, I started thinking, 'Oh my God. What will happen if I do not win the title'.
"All negative thoughts then happened to me and I started psyching myself too much. When I finally went on to the court, I was nervous as I had never been and I could not play my usual game.
"Overall, it was a good learning experience for me to have played in the final after winning all matches in straight games," she said.
The Indian star, who wrote a new chapter for Indian squash by being the first player to figure in a world title final, is sure of improving upon her WISPA ranking.
"My ranking should be high enough to get into strong tournaments. In order to play in higher prize-money WISPA events, I need to play in lower prize money tournaments," she said, adding "my next port of call is Lahore for a WISPA tournament in the end of August."
On her future plans, Joshna said, "I will be playing in as many WISPA tournaments as possible and will be focussing on winning the Asian Games title next year in Doha, besides playing in senior domestic events.
"I will also be playing in tournaments in Jaipur, Mumbai and Delhi, if the prize-money is good," she said.
Joshna, who has plans to go abroad for training, said, "I am not playing much squash in Chennai. Here, I will get to work on physical fitness besides 'solo training' fine-tuning my shots and proper lengths. Liz [Irving of Amsterdam] would be the one person that I would go to getting coached."
Thanking the Union Government for its financial assistance, Joshna said, "But for the timely help, it would not have been possible for me to have trained in Amsterdam before moving to Belgium for the World Championship.
"At the same time, the sum given is not enough in the long run to train properly to compete in International events.
"I need help from other sponsors."
