India, Dec. 14 -- Joshna Chinappa has been a professional squash player for over two decades. Rarely did she experience the kind of buzz she felt playing a match on Sunday in a commercial mall in Chennai.

"It was the most crowd I've ever played in front of, honestly," she said.

In front of that large home crowd, the Indian team captured the Squash World Cup gold for the first time, defeating top seeds Hong Kong 3-0 in the final held at the Express Avenue Mall.

The four-member team of former women's top 10 Joshna, current world No.28 Anahat Singh, men's No.29 Abhay Singh and No.45 Velavan Senthilkumar went where no Indian unit had gone in the mixed team tournament's previous four editions. India went better than their bronze in 2023 and...