Intense Day Two Action Sets Up Commonwealth Games Doubles Knockout Stages

After a day two count of 30 pool matches spread across five courts, Commonwealth Games Squash action moves into the knockout stages on Thursday in the Women’s and Mixed Doubles in the Gold Coast, Australia.

A crucial encounter in the Women’s event opened proceedings on the all-glass showcourt where top-seeded New Zealanders Joelle King and Amanda Landers-Murphy faced Aussie pair Sarah Cardwell and Christine Nunn – which the Kiwi World Champions – after losing in Monday’s first pool match – had to win in order to progress to the knockout stage.

With King, the newly-crowned Commonwealth singles gold medallist, now in the ‘doubles zone’, the favourites took just 21 minutes to see off the home duo 11-8, 11-6.

“If we lost, we were definitely out,” conceded King afterwards.

“I guess we just wanted to come back and try and play better than we did yesterday – it was a pretty poor start from myself. I had the afternoon off yesterday and was able to recover a bit more.

“Doubles is one of those games where it takes a little bit to gel – especially when you’ve been playing singles and you’ve got to try and switch over. And we certainly gelled a lot better in that game.

“I was disappointed with the way I played yesterday – it wasn’t good. I had to come back today and restart my doubles campaign. So hopefully we can move forward out of the round robin then see what else we can do.”

Partner Landers-Murphy said: “It’s a team effort – both of us were out there and we just didn’t perform as we wanted to. Today we had to come out and prove that we can play better.

“We don’t go on there thinking we’re world champs – we go on there taking each day as it comes.”

Later in the day, surprising first day victors Rachel Arnold and Sivasangari Subramaniam – who overcame King and Landers-Murphy – the 9th seeds from Malaysia, completed a second successive upset win by fighting back from a game down to beat Cardwell and Nunn 10-11, 11-6, 11-5 – thereby topping Pool A, ahead of fellow qualifiers King and Landers-Murphy.

“We’re very excited,” said Arnold. “It’s our first tournament together – and it’s in the Commonwealth so I’m very happy with our performance. After yesterday, it was important for us to get a win today as well and not just slow down.”

Event debutante and 19-year-old Subramaniam added: “It was a really good win for us, yesterday and today, to make it to the quarters as ninth seeds! It was a very good win, but it’s not over yet!”

New Zealander Paul Coll was also rapidly adjusting to doubles play after battling to silver in the men’s individual final less than two days earlier. His first of the day’s two matches was a men’s fixture in which he partnered Campbell Grayson to an 11-4, 11-10 victory over Maltese pair Bradley Hindle and Daniel Zammit-Lewis.

“It’s not easy, you’ve got to be pretty switched on,” said Coll. “Yesterday morning was tough, today is a lot better. Campbell carried me yesterday, made it easy for me. But we’ve got a great team from New Zealand, who take wonderful care of us so my body is feeling good.”

Grayson added: “He’s come from such a high, the emotion and everything – and doubles is a lot different as well, and I’ve had the opportunity to play for the last couple of days. I’ve just got to try and look after him and help him when I need to.”

Two English pairs vying for a places in the Women’s quarter-finals were placed in the same qualifying pool – and in the morning faced each other.

Second favourites Jenny Duncalf and Alison Waters justified their seeding by beating compatriots Laura Massaro & Sarah-Jane Perry, the No.7 seeds, 11-4, 11-7.

“It’s obviously a very different dynamic to playing other countries, but in individuals we play each other all the time, so we’re kind of used to it,” said Duncalf, a former world No.2.

“But, in a funny way, being in the same group could be good for us if we both get through – so then we won’t play each other in the knockout stages so soon.”

Later in the day Massaro and Perry clinched their place in the quarter-finals – but had to recover from a game down and battle for 50 minutes to quash Aitken & Thomson 9-11, 11-8, 11-7.

Perry, the singles silver medallist, was emphatic: “The singles are completely out of my head – I had yesterday to get into the doubles. We just wanted to go on there and get the job done.”

Massaro added: “We knew there was a lot of pressure on us and we weren’t happy with our performance this morning. They won a silver medal at the world doubles, we practise with them a lot and we know how good they are.

“Even though we weren’t that happy with our match this morning, we thought it would help us for tonight – and I think it did. We knew our backs were against the wall. I said to SJ after the second, if we lose this we go down with no regrets.

“We’re two quality performers under pressure – in fact that might have been the difference in the end as we back ourselves to be able to perform under a huge amount of pressure – being one-nil down – and hold it together. That wasn’t our best squash but it’s what makes me proud that we can come through when we’re not playing our best squash.”

Results
Men’s Doubles 2nd Pool round:
Pool A
[1] Ryan Cuskelly & Cameron Pilley (AUS) bt [16] Mandela Patrick & Kale Wilson (TRI) 11-0, 11-2 (14m)
Pool B
[2] Alan Clyne & Greg Lobban (SCO) bt [15] Jason-Ray Khalil & Sunil Seth (GUY) 11-3, 11-3 (17m)
Pool C
[3] Paul Coll & Campbell Grayson (NZL) bt [14] Bradley Hindle & Daniel Zammit-Lewis (MLT) 11-4, 11-10 (27m)
Pool D
[4] Declan James & James Willstrop (ENG) bt [13] Tayyab Aslam & Farhan Zaman (PAK) 11-7, 11-3 (30m)
Pool E
[5] Zac Alexander & David Palmer (AUS) bt [12] Christopher Binnie & Lewis Walters (JAM) 11-7, 11-5 (30m)
Pool F
[11] Vikram Malhotra & Ramit Tandon (IND) bt [6] Peter Creed & Joel Makin (WAL) 11-7, 8-11, 11-10 (46m)
Pool G
[7] Daryl Selby & Adrian Waller (ENG) bt [10] Mohd Syafiq Kamal & Eain Yow Ng (MAS) 11-4, 11-8 (27m)
Pool H
[8] Nafiizwan Adnan & Ivan Yuen (MAS) bt [9] Lance Beddoes & Evan Williams (NZL) 11-9, 11-10 (46m)

Women’s Doubles 2nd & Final Pool round:
Pool A
[1] Joelle King & Amanda Landers-Murphy (NZL) bt [8] Sarah Cardwell & Christine Nunn (AUS) 11-8, 11-6 (21m)
[9] Rachel Arnold & Sivasangari Subramaniam (MAS) bt [8] Sarah Cardwell & Christine Nunn (AUS) 10-11, 11-6, 11-5 (38m)
Pool B
[10] Lisa Aitken & Alison Thomson (SCO) bt Eilidh Bridgeman & Caroline Laing (CAY) 11-2, 11-2 (12m)
[2] Jenny Duncalf & Alison Waters (ENG) bt [7] Laura Massaro & Sarah-Jane Perry (ENG) 11-4, 11-7 (26m)
[2] Jenny Duncalf & Alison Waters (ENG) bt Eilidh Bridgeman & Caroline Laing (CAY) 11-0, 11-2 (12m)
[7] Laura Massaro & Sarah-Jane Perry (ENG) bt [10] Lisa Aitken & Alison Thomson (SCO) 9-11, 11-8, 11-7 (50m)
Pool C
[3] Joshna Chinappa & Dipika Pallikal Karthik (IND) bt [6] Tesni Evans & Deon Saffery (WAL) 11-8, 7-11, 11-8 (30m)
Dianne Kellas & Colette Sultana (MLT) bt [11] Faiza Zafar & Madina Zafar (PAK) 11-4, 11-10 (17m)
[3] Joshna Chinappa & Dipika Pallikal Karthik (IND) bt Dianne Kellas & Colette Sultana (MLT) 11-5, 11-6 (15m)
[6] Tesni Evans & Deon Saffery (WAL) bt [11] Faiza Zafar & Madina Zafar (PAK) 11-3, 11-5 (16m)
Pool D
[5] Samantha Cornett & Nikki Todd (CAN) bt [12] Samantha Hennings & Marlene West (CAY) 11-8, 11-5 (17m)
[4] Rachael Grinham & Donna Urquhart (AUS) bt Taylor Fernandes & Mary Fung-A-Fat (GUY) 11-2, 11-2 (10m)

Mixed Doubles 2nd & Final Pool round:
Pool A
[1] Joelle King & Paul Coll (NZL) bt [16] Dianne Kellas & Bradley Hindle (MLT) 11-2, 11-4 (12m)
Pool B
[2] Alison Waters & Daryl Selby (ENG) bt [15] Meagan Best & Shawn Simpson (BAR) 11-3, 11-2 (15m)
[15] Meagan Best & Shawn Simpson (BAR) bt Alison Mua & Stephen Henry (FIJ) 11-2, 11-1 (8m)
Pool C
[14] Marlene West & Cameron Stafford (CAY) bt Khaaliqa Nimji & Hardeep Reel (KEN) 11-5, 11-8 (13m)
[3] Tesni Evans & Peter Creed (WAL) bt [14] Marlene West & Cameron Stafford (CAY) 11-5, 11-5 (15m)
Pool D
[4] Donna Urquhart & Cameron Pilley (AUS) bt [13] Faiza Zafar & Farhan Zaman (PAK) 11-3, 11-6 (12m)
Pool E
[12] Madina Zafar & Tayyab Aslam (PAK) bt Mary Fung-A-Fat & Jason-Ray Khalil (GUY) 11-6, 11-9 (18m)
Pool F
[6] Rachael Grinham & Ryan Cuskelly (AUS) bt Charlotte Knaggs & Kale Wilson (TRI) 11-0, 11-4 (10m)
Pool G
[7] Jenny Duncalf & Adrian Waller (ENG) bt Colette Sultana & Daniel Zammit-Lewis (MLT) 11-5, 11-7 (16m)
Pool H
[8] Joshna Chinappa & Harinder Pal Sandhu (IND) bt [9] Lisa Aitken & Kevin Moran (SCO) 11-10, 11-8 (28m)

Draw
Women’s quarter-final line-up:
[9] Rachel Arnold & Sivasangari Subramaniam (MAS) v [7] Laura Massaro & Sarah-Jane Perry (ENG)
[3] Joshna Chinappa & Dipika Pallikal Karthik (IND) v [5] Samantha Cornett & Nikki Todd (CAN)
[4] Rachael Grinham & Donna Urquhart (AUS) v [6] Tesni Evans & Deon Saffery (WAL)
[2] Jenny Duncalf & Alison Waters (ENG) v [1] Joelle King & Amanda Landers-Murphy (NZL)

Mixed last sixteen round line-up:
[1] Joelle King & Paul Coll (NZL) v [15] Meagan Best & Shawn Simpson (BAR)
[8] Joshna Chinappa & Harinder Pal Sandhu (IND) v [10] Amanda Landers-Murphy & Zac Millar (NZL)
[3] Tesni Evans & Peter Creed (WAL) v [13] Faiza Zafar & Farhan Zaman (PAK)
[5] Dipika Pallikal Karthik & Saurav Ghosal (IND) v [11] Aifa Azman & Sanjay Singh Chal (MAS)
[6] Rachael Grinham & Ryan Cuskelly (AUS) v [12] Madina Zafar & Tayyab Aslam (PAK)
[4] Donna Urquhart & Cameron Pilley (AUS) v [14] Marlene West & Cameron Stafford (CAY)
[7] Jenny Duncalf & Adrian Waller (ENG) v [9] Lisa Aitken & Kevin Moran (SCO)
[2] Alison Waters & Daryl Selby (ENG) v [16] Dianne Kellas & Bradley Hindle (MLT)