Squash World Doubles Champs

Two Finals For Kiwis & One Bronze Medal Match At Squash World Doubles Champs

Waikato squash pro Joelle King is through to the finals of two events at the 2017 WSF World Doubles Squash Championships in Manchester for the second year running.
King, 28 combined with Greymouth’s Paul Coll to win their mixed quarter-final in an epic 56 minute match over the Indian team of Saurav Ghosal and Dipika Pallikai 11-7 10-11 11-9 in what was a repeat of last year’s final. "Tough to meet such a good pair so early, but Paul and I are getting better match by match and that's was our best yet,” said King who is ranked No.12 in the world in singles.
They then went back on court to then account for Australian fourth seeds David Palmer and Rachael Grinham 11-8 11-8 in just 29 minutes and now face the English team of Daryl Selby and Alison Waters for the gold medal.

"Like last year we lost a pool match, but we're feeling comfortable, we know what each other's doing and we're playing well!,” said Coll. “We feel comfortable with how we’re playing, Joelle is hitting the ball better and better, and we know what to expect of each other. We’re playing well and obviously we’re pleased to be back in the final.”
King is also into the women’s doubles final and hoping to defending her gold medal with Rotorua’s Amanda Landers-Murphy again. The top seeded team had a walkover against third seeds the third seeds from Australia Rachael Grinham and Donna Urquhart in the semis after Urquhart sustained an injury earlier in the day in her mixed.
King and Landers-Murphy face the English combination of Jenny Duncalf and Waters in the final.
“Coming into the tournament obviously a bit of pressure being top seeds in both. Paul and I had a loss in pool play. That can go one of two ways, you can dwell on it or try and fight back. I think we’ve done a good job and taken out some good teams and I’m pretty excited to be in two finals,” said King.
The men’s doubles team of Coll and Auckland’s Campbell Grayson did everything possible in their semifinal against the top seeds Alan Clyne and Greg Lobban of Scotland but the Kiwis couldn’t quite sustain their run, going down 7-11 8-11 8-11 in a marathon 82 minutes, the longest match of the tournament and will now receive the bronze which is the same medal they won last year.
Coll and Grayson looked like staging a miracle comeback in the final set after being down 1-8 they worked their way back into the match to 8-10 but couldn’t take the three more points required.
Results:
Mixed quarter-final
Paul Coll/Joelle King (New Zealand) bt Saurav Ghosal/Dipika Pallikai (India) 11-7 10-11 11-9
Mixed semifinal:
Coll/King bt David Palmer/Rachael Grinham (Australia) 11-8 11
Women’s doubles semifinal:
King/Amanda Landers-Murphy (New Zealand) bt Rachael Grinham/Donna Urquhart (Australia) walkover
Men’s doubles semifinal:
Alan Clyne/Greg Lobban (Scotland) bt Coll/Grayson (New Zealand) 7-11 8-11 8-11

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