Sana Bahadur

Sana Bahadur is Pakistan’s first deaf athlete on the PSA world tour, and the first in Asia, who has fought her way to a world ranking in the low 200s using a system almost nobody else on tour needs: her father translating sign language into three spoken languages, court-side, in real time. She is 20 years old, entirely deaf and mute, and just won the biggest title of her career at the PSA Challenger 3K Bendigo Open in August 2026, beating a former world No. 1 to do it.

The First Deaf Squash Player in Asia

Sana started competing a decade ago, at ten years old, becoming the first deaf squash player in Pakistan and across Asia. Her younger brother, Saifullah, followed her into the sport. Both have roughly 10 percent of their hearing, enough to register a jet plane overhead, not enough to follow a conversation.

There was no existing setup for a deaf athlete in Pakistani squash when she started. No sign language interpreters at courts, no specialised training infrastructure. What exists instead is her father.

Her Father Is the System

Sher Bahadur is court-side at every match Sana plays, translating her sign language into Pashto, Urdu or English depending on where in the world she is competing. He speaks for her to referees, opponents and officials, because the system she competes in was never built to accommodate her.

That role has occasionally put him at odds with match officials who mistake his intervention for coaching from courtside rather than translation his daughter cannot provide for herself. At an October 2025 quarter-final at the CNS Squash Championships, Sana was struck in the throat during play. Unable to speak, she could not tell the referee what had happened. Her father did.

Financing has followed a similar pattern. Most players on tour build their careers through long-term sponsorship. Sher has largely self-funded Sana’s international travel, describing the ten years of chaperoning, translating and training as exhausting but worth it.

What Squash Means to Her

Sana has said, through her father’s translation, that squash pulled her out of what she has described as invisibility.

Before she played, she felt unknown. Once she started competing and wearing Pakistan’s colours, people began to recognise her, greet her, and ask for photos, including from players ranked well above her. Several of her opponents on tour had never played a deaf athlete before facing her.

Titles and Career Highlights

Sana has close to a dozen national titles in Pakistan and has been ranked No. 1 across every national age-group category she has competed in. She reached a career-high PSA world ranking of 212 in January 2023.

Her breakthrough PSA Tour title came at the Bendigo Open in August 2026, where she beat former world No. 1 Rachael Grinham 3-1 in the final, having already beaten her once earlier in the same week.

Full match report: Sana Bahadur Wins Bendigo Open

The Players She Has Impressed

Sana has drawn attention from the top of the women’s game. Nour El Sherbini and Nouran Gohar, both former world No. 1s, have asked to be photographed with her, a rare gesture toward a player ranked outside the world’s top 100.

Who She Wants to Become

Sana has said she wants to follow the path of Pakistani squash legends Jansher Khan and Qamar Zaman, players who once dominated the sport at a level Pakistan has not consistently reached since. The gap between where she is now, ranked in the low 200s, and where they finished, at world No. 1, is enormous. It is also, by her father’s account, the actual goal rather than a throwaway line.