King Crowned Double Doubles World Champion In Darwin by Howard Harding
August 18, 2016
- Success in two of today's finals in the WSF World Doubles Squash
Championships in Australia has led New Zealand's Joelle King to become
the first player to win two gold medals in the same championships since
2004.
The climax of the World Squash Federation event took place at the
Darwin Squash Centre in Darwin, where King went into both finals in a
third-seeded pairing against the events' No.2 seeds.
Partnering Amanda Landers-Murphy in the Women's Doubles final (both
pictured above), world No.9 King, from Cambridge on North Island, beat
home hopes Rachael Grinham & Donna Urquhart 11-7, 11-4. It was
Grinham who, 12 years ago, won gold in both the Mixed and Women's
finals in India.
Indian pair Dipika Pallikal Karthik & Saurav Ghosal were King and
Paul Coll's opponents in the Mixed Doubles final. The Kiwis (pictured
below) rose to the occasion in fine style, despatching the
higher-seeded duo 11-8, 11-8 to give double gold to New Zealand.
"We thought we were in with a chance," said King after both triumphs.
"I don't think we knew we could win two golds - but it's pretty good to
take them back to New Zealand!"
Second seeds Alan Clyne & Greg Lobban faltered in an earlier
qualifying round of the Men's Doubles when they went down to the
third-seeded New Zealand pair.
But there was no stopping the Scots (pictured below in the medal
ceremony) in the final where they dashed Australian hopes of a
championship gold medal by beating the fourth-seeded pair David Palmer
& Zac Alexander 11-8, 11-4.
RESULTS: WSF World Doubles Squash Championships, Darwin, Australia
Men's final: [2] Alan Clyne & Greg Lobban (SCO) bt [4] David Palmer & Zac Alexander (AUS) 11-8, 11-4
Women's final: [3] Joelle King & Amanda Landers-Murphy (NZL) bt [2] Rachael Grinham & Donna Urquhart (AUS) 11-7, 11-4
Mixed final: [3] Joelle King & Paul Coll (NZL) bt [2] Dipika Pallikal Karthik & Saurav Ghosal (IND) 11-8, 11-8
