Barrington Reflects on Success of Commonwealth Games

By RJ Mitchell

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Jonah Barrington has hailed the Commonwealth Games as a unique event which has just demonstrated that squash is “alive and will never go away.”

The father of the professional game has cast an eye over events at Birmingham and has no doubt that the sport’s strong showing at the Games has reflected very strongly on the PSA World Tour.

Yet, while saluting the heroics of gold medal winners Paul Coll and Georgina Kennedy, the squash legend also believes there is now much to be expected of surprise packages such as Scotland’s Rory Stewart and Canadian Hollie Naughton.

Barrington was also keen to pay a tribute to his long-time friend Malcolm Willstrop, whose immense coaching influence could be seen in the triumphs and despair experienced by three of his former charges in medal matches.

The action in Birmingham has also only served to intensify Barrington’s thirst for the resumption of the PSA World Tour.

The man known fondly as ‘Mr Squash’ said: “The Commonwealth Games just brings so many people together from so many countries in a spirit that is just so different to all that is negative in the world.

“In my view, it is just a free spirit and an entity in its own right and it manifests what sport does and is just unique, uncontaminated, and invaluable in so many ways and long may it continue.

Paul Coll with his gold medal

“There were so many good competitive matches all over the place… we had some amazing contests for TV in the quarters finals onwards.

“So these Birmingham Commonwealth Games have demonstrated our game is very much alive in so many unexpected places and will never go away, and that in no small part is due to the work of the PSA World Tour.”

For Barrington, it was the performance of World No. 65 Rory Stewart who dispatched 3/4 seed Patrick Rooney in the last 16 that has left the 70s squash icon hoping that the man from Crieff uses Birmingham as a springboard for a rise up the PSA World Rankings.

The six-time British Open champion said: “I said the Commonwealth Games was fertile for upsets and so it came to pass, Where has Rory Stewart been hiding? In a cave like ‘Robert The Bruce’?

“The Scot took out the highly fancied Patrick Rooney in the last 16 and only faltered against James Willstrop, when leading 7-3 in the fifth, in a match resplendent with creativity.

“There were so many aspects of his game that bode well going forward and now he must harness these and use the experience of the last few days to make his mark on the PSA World Tour, his is a talent that deserves to flourish and his time must be now.

“Stewart’s battle with ‘The Marksman’ [Willstrop], who is renowned throughout squash for his racket skills over the course of an illustrious career, took rather more than an edge off the former World No.1, and the last person he needed to face was Joel Makin the next day.”

When it came to the men’s showpiece, Barrington believes the five-game epic final between eventual champion Paul Coll and Wales’s Joel Makin was the ultimate showpiece for all that is good on the PSA World Tour.

Coll (left) dives against Joel Makin (right) in their gold medal match

The former World No.1 said: “The final showcased why squash is in a different gladiatorial league to the majority of so-called non-contact sports. Joel did not come to be second best but took the game immediately to Paul as the two fittest guys in the bear pit, and there was precious little in it throughout a thrilling, absorbing contest.

“In this respect, I look forward to the next instalment of their rivalry on the PSA World Tour and long may that continue. The way Makin skilfully continued to mix long and short bodes well for the continuing development of his game.

“Yet the way Coll responded to wrestle control in the fifth away from the redoubtable Welshman and claim the precious title that had eluded him from four years ago was something that must surely have made our game very attractive to those watching who are not dedicated squash fans, and that is also positive in terms of the PSA World Tour.

“It was classic world-class squash deserving of such a large, excitable audience in a brilliant arena.”

For Barrington, there were other players that impressed him to: “Paul Coll was seriously discomfited by Emyr Evans, the World No.95 and younger brother of the inestimable Tesni, and much like young Stewart he must use that performance to make his mark on the tour.

“It was also great to see that the evergreen Indian ace Saurav Ghosal can still pose a considerable challenge to the best, and from his showing a good season may lay in wait, while a first medal for India, with Saurav overcoming an exhausted James Willstrop, will surely have stoked his competitive fires.

“But there was much that was poignant in that James was mentored almost from the cradle by his father, the great Malcom Willstrop, and that Saurav himself was for so many years at the Willstrop base of Pontefract, working under Malcolm.

“To see both having such great respect and obvious warmth for each other was just another example of Malcolm Willstrop, who for me was the greatest squash coach on the planet. He can, from on high, be so proud of both men and also of Hollie Naughton, another of his pupils on the world stage.”

When discussing who else could mount a rise up the World Rankings in the new season, Barrington said: “It was a gripping challenge from young Lucy Turmel to the defending champion Joelle King. Turmel, who was confident from the onset, took the first against a rather nervy Kiwi, and then there was that epic 18-16 second game which encompassed so many remarkable features.

Lucy Turmel (right) takes on Joelle King (left) during the women’s Commonwealth Games singles

“There was a 10-2 lead to Joelle, an astonishing recovery from Lucy to level at 10-10 and game balls apiece until the breakthrough from the World No.5 on the 11th game ball to make it 18-16.

“That match must surely tell Lucy that she has what it takes to make an impact on the PSA World Tour, and I will be watching her results with renewed interest this season going forward. She has set herself a standard and she must not let that fall.

“Indeed, it was the 85 nail-biting minutes that she took out of Joelle that match which, in part, ultimately decided Joelle’s fate where the Barnsley born leftie, Hollie Naughton, who proudly represents Canada, produced the match of her life and some quite devastating squash to oust the drained title-holder.”

There was one match that was, for Barrington, the ultimate demonstration of the unique battle of styles that squash can provide: “The much-awaited clash between the whirlwind that is Gina Kennedy and Sarah Jane Perry, a player who is very difficult to play against for anyone, was a contest of ultimate styles and mobility; Gina in perpetual frenetic overdrive and SJ full of subtleties, touch, and power.

“This was a right ding dong with each taking turns being in the ascendancy. Kennedy. There was a tie-break in the fourth, an enraptured audience and Gina finally came home 14-12, what a match. I look forward to more of the same on the PSA World Tour.”

An ardent admirer of the women’s game on the PSA World Tour, the great Barrington has no doubt that the women’s event delivered on all the momentum that has been built on the PSA World Tour: “Gina Kennedy has had quite a year and continues on a radar beam, but most importantly the women’s game has delivered yet again.

“Gina was ultimately too strong in the final for Hollie, but the Canadian from Yorkshire won a game to further emphasise her progression.

“In terms of the bronze medal match, I think just how important that was became clear by the do or die efforts of both SJ and Joelle. They fought with everything they had, and although perhaps the heavy toll of Joelle’s earlier efforts undid her, great credit must be given to SJ, and she must now use that victory as a springboard.

“One moment for me highlighted all that is good in the woman’s game, and that came with both players on the ground at one stage at, I think 8-7 in the fifth, which was a brilliant fifth game, and emphasised just what these competitions mean to squash. It was a fantastic match and one that has left me looking forward to the return of the PSA World Tour, and I wont be alone in that regard.”