Double joy for Kiwi King
By HOWARD HARDING – Squash Mad Correspondent
Scotland’s Alan Clyne and Greg Lobban are the men’s world doubles champions after beating Australia’s David Palmer and Zac Alexander in the final.
Second seeds Clyne and Lobban faltered in an earlier qualifying round of the WSF World Doubles Squash Championships in Darwin, Australia, when they went down to the third-seeded New Zealand pair, Paul Coll and Campbell Grayson.
But there was no stopping the Scots in the final where they dashed Australian hopes of a championship gold medal by beating the fourth-seeded pair Palmer and Alexander 11-8, 11-4.
Scotland, who invested heavily in doubles training before hosting the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, will be looking towards the 2018 Games at Gold Coast with some confidence. Clyne said: “We are very happy to be world champions and this is an important start to our planning for Gold Coast.”
Kiwi King at the double
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, world No.9 King, from Cambridge on North Island, beat home hopes Rachael Grinham and 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 and 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!”
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
Pictures courtesy of WSF and from social media