Pune/Mumbai : When 16-year-old Anika Dubey steps onto the glass court at the WSF World Junior Squash Championships in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Canada (July 20–31, 2026), she will carry more than a racket. She will carry proof that a child spotted on a public court in Pune can, with the right ecosystem, compete with the best junior athletes in the world.
Anika arrives in Canada as one of India’s most decorated juniors, a three-time National Champion and reigning silver medallist in the Girls’ Under-17 category at the 33rd Asian Junior Individual Championships in Panzhihua, China, in May 2026, where she was joined by fellow Chance2Sports athletes Vasundhara Nangare and Akanksha Gupta. With squash making its Olympic debut at Los Angeles 2028, hers is the first generation for whom an Olympic podium is a realistic dream, and Anika is squarely in that conversation.
Behind her stands Chance2Sports (C2S), a Section 8 not-for-profit that has spent over 15 years building what India’s sporting system often lacks: a complete pathway. C2S identifies talent through structured scouting camps in schools and small towns, trains athletes under national and international-level coaches, funds their equipment, travel and tournament exposure, and mentors them all the way to the international stage.
Anika is one of several success stories from this pipeline. Vasundhara Nangare from Kalamb and Akanksha Gupta from Thane, who also represented India at the Asian Junior Championships, came through the Foundation’s flagship Kanga Kids Program. The next generation is already rising, with youngsters like Vedant Shinde and Viraaj climbing the national Under-11 rankings and many more in the talent funnel behind them.
“We don’t wait for talent to find us; we go and find it,” said Abhinav Sinha, Co-Founder, Chance2Sports, and a former international squash player. “Vasundhara taught herself squash watching videos on a broken cement court in Kalamb. Anika started on a public court in Pune. Talent has never been India’s problem; opportunity has. What we have built is an organised, accountable system that converts raw talent into world-class athletes. Anika walking onto a world championship court in Canada is that system working exactly as designed.”
A movement funded like an institution
What sets C2S apart is not only its athletes but how it is run. Registered as a Section 8 company, the Foundation operates with a formal board of mentors, audited accounts, structured athlete-development plans, and quarterly performance and utilisation statements shared with every patron. Donors are treated not as cheque-writers but as stakeholders who can see exactly how their contribution translates into coaching hours, tournament entries and medals.
That accountability is paying off. C2S has channelled more than ₹1 crore in patron donations from corporate CSR partners, family foundations and individual philanthropists a significant share of it in the past year, including from several renowned trusts and philanthropists who have chosen to remain anonymous. On that lean funding base, the Foundation has impacted 450+ athletes, engaged 900+ student-athletes through talent identification programmes across Pune and Mumbai, and developed 20+ national and international-level players. The philosophy has never been about spending more; it has been about building the right system, where every rupee creates measurable impact.
“Patrons stay with us because we operate with the discipline of a professionally managed organisation and the purpose of a social mission,” said Chetan Desai, Co-Founder of Chance2Sports and a former ATP-ranked tennis player. “Every quarter, our patrons know exactly where every rupee has gone and which athlete it has helped move forward. And we don’t just sponsor athletes; we become part of their journey: nutrition, physical conditioning, mental well-being, performance planning, and access to quality coaching and competition. That holistic approach has consistently delivered results, and it is the foundation of our vision to expand into more sports, new geographies and integrated high-performance centres.”
C2S is now raising ₹25 crore over the next five years to scale its operations, expanding grassroots programmes into new sports, widening its scholarship pool to support 150 athletes with world-class coaching and nutrition, and opening high-performance training centres. The Foundation’s stated ambition: to produce India’s first World Junior squash gold medallist to emerge from a community programme.
For Anika, though, the mission is simpler. “I started on a public court when I was six. Now I’m going to play the best players in the world. I want every kid watching me to know this path exists,” says Anika Dubey.