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• TODAY • Day D4 • Day D3 • Day D2 • Day D1 • FINALS • SEMIS • QUARTERS • Day 2 • Day 1 • Update •
   
TODAY AT THE GAMES
Sun 19th, Day FOUR:
[1]
David Palmer (Aus) bt [5] Lee Beachill (Eng)
9/0, 9/4, 9/4 (59m)
[4] Peter Nicol (Eng) bt [7] Nick Matthew
(Eng)
3/9, 9/5, 9/4, 9/5 (85m)
[3] Natalie Grinham
(Aus) bt [1] Nicol David (Mas)
9/10, 9/7, 4/9, 9/6, 9/3 (87m)
[2] Rachael Grinham (Aus) bt [9] Shelley
Kitchen (Nzl)
10/8, 9/4, 9/2 (41m)
Three
in a row for Nicol ...
It's
Gold for a Grinham ...
Peter Nicol moved into his third successive Commonwealth Games
final, coming from a game down to beat England team-mate Nick Matthew,
while the home crowd was delighted as top seed David Palmer ensured
a home presence in the men's final with a straight-games win over Lee
Beachill.
In the women's semi-finals Natalie Grinham overcame world
number one Nicol David in five games, and was followed into the final by
sister Rachael Grinham, whose straight-games win over Shelley
Kitchen guaranteed the hosts - and Toowoomba - gold and silver medals.
FLASH
QUOTES:
from
the Melbourne news desk
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Framboise in Melbourne
Results from Melbourne
EN BREF #4
BBC Games coverage
from Howard Harding |
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Framboise
reports from Melbourne ...
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[3] Natalie
Grinham (Aus) bt [1] Nicol David (Mas)
9/10, 9/7, 4/9, 9/6, 9/3 (87m) |
NATALIE OUT OF THIS WORLD
I was purely and simply blown away by Natalie Grinham’s performance
today against the top player of the year, Nicol David. They say you
can only judge your achievement on the quality of your opponent. Well,
in that case, the Australian is the star of the year…
How many times did Natalie have to win E.V.E.R.Y. rally. How many
times did she get her cute little butt kicked, and again, and again.
And still she ran the next rally. And still she went for her short
game. And still she retrieved her opponent's splendid attacks…
 The
first game was very close, and was decided on two tins and a stroke
against the Australian, who took an excellent start in the second 3/0,
then got caught up at 5/5, to finally equalise one game all. The third
was all Nicol’s, and Natalie looked very tired from where I stood, and
I thought, the Duracell Bunny strikes again, wearing her opponent down
to transform her in a little drop of sweat…
But not today, Nicol, silently screamed the Australian. In an 18
minute game, Natalie reset the clock to Australian time, just by
keeping up attacking, and for the first time in the match, the
Malaysian started to show signs of tiredness. She started to try to
shorten the rallies, made a few errors… Maybe, only maybe, was she
feeling the pressure that her natural patriotism had put on her tiny
little shoulders?
And the decider was all in the Aussie’s favour. At no point during
that game did Nicol look sharp enough to threaten her opponent, and
her cramping has probably something to do with it, as she is not the
kind to give up on a match, and certainly not when a medal is at
stake.
But hey, Natalie won’t mind a bit of help from fate, and the
Australian crowd cheered loud and long their first representative in
the ladies final…
 "We
were hoping for this result, but we were expecting Nicol to win, being
world number one, and playing that well at the moment…
"The difference I think comes from a surprising tactic really, in the
third, when Natalie got tired, Nicol slowed the pace down, and that played
in favour of Natalie. I’m not sure why that is…
"Then of course, Nicol suffered from cramps at the end of the match, and
although it’s the name of the game (I used to cramp myself, you feel fine,
you are just cramping), it still affected her performance…"
Geoff Hunt
 "We
are all disappointed for Nicol, but she cramped at the end of the game,
and that happens. There was a lot of pressure on her to win, but I think
she has proved that she is really an amazing player, that she plays
beautifully, and I hope people back home won’t slag her off, that’s the
last thing she’ll need…"
Ong Beng Hee |
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 "Yes,
Framboise, I run and run, that’s my game, I’m doing a lot of retrieving as
well, and normally, I get tired when I play Nicol, but I didn’t today,
thanks to the support of the crowd, all the cheering, it was wonderful…
"Last time I beat Nicol was 14 month ago, during the 2004 World Open…
"I didn’t realise she was cramping until I was 7/3 in the fifth, but Tommy
told me after the match that she started in the fourth. But you try not to
think about those things, because they take you away from your game, and
you may get distracted…
"Of course I would prefer to play my sister, but we never talk about it,
because when we have in the past when we were in different parts of the
draw, it never happen. And actually, it doesn’t happen that much, we only
played six times on tour.
"Can I beat her? Of course I can!!!!!!!!
I’m really happy to have won a medal, and to tell you the truth, I don’t
care that much which, as long as I play well tomorrow…"
Natalie Grinham |
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[4] Peter Nicol
(Eng) bt [7] Nick Matthew (Eng)
3/9, 9/5, 9/4, 9/5 (85m) |
PETER AT HIS BEST…
A storming start for the young Nick Matthew against Peter Nicol and
all his experience in the squash bag. Been there, done three finals,
dear, hard to impress the man anymore…
But the Boss wanted this final, he wants his gold medal. He wants it
very badly. Hair cut short, as he always does when he really wants a
trophy, fit and trim like a junior, he impressed us all in the arena…
Nick played his part, clung in there as much as he could, dug in, and
made his team mate work hard. Well, the match was one minute short of
80 minutes, and that’s for a four setter, and the games lasted 20
minutes each more or less.
But that’s really what the boy from Sheffield was permitted to do
tonight, hang in there, and although he never gave an inch away, and
forced Peter to win every point, he was the one under pressure from
the second game on…
A superb victory for the Boss, who honestly didn’t even look tired at
the end of the match, and will be blipping hard to beat tomorrow…
 "The game of
squash is getting tougher, and quicker. It has never been that fast…
"In the first, Nick was taking the ball so early that I couldn’t do
anything, I couldn’t find my length and width, I couldn’t get past him
because I was constantly under pressure.
"But I knew that after his match yesterday, there was no way he could keep
that pace up…
"Nick was unhappy with 3 or 4 decisions, they were marginal, but they
arrived at crucial times, and that’s why Nick was reacting that way…
"In the English camp, we’ve got a very good team spirit, and if he had won
today, I would have been happy for him, and in the same token, I would
like to play my doubles team mate tomorrow in the final…
"This is my third Commonwealth final, and as you know, it’s my last year
on the tour, so for the next 24 hours, a gold medal is all that counts for
me…"
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 "Yes,
I was tired from yesterday, but I feel I tired him as well, and the amount
he retrieved today was just incredible…
"It’s the best I’ve seen him play for the past four years. I know this is
important for him, as it’s his last major event, and although we both
wanted it badly, he was just like a steam train out there…
"Today, I played out of my skin, and all credit to him, he was just out of
this world.
"If we were to get Gold and Silver, that would be the icing on the cake,
and I just hope that the show we gave everyone this week will prove to
people that we belong to the Olympics…"
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"It’s fantastic for England…"
Performance Director
"It was a great day for England, Nick had a very heavy match yesterday,
and still, Peter had to play at his utmost best to beat him…"
Head Coach |
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[2] Rachael
Grinham (Aus) bt [9] Shelley Kitchen (Nzl)
10/8, 9/4, 9/2 (41m) |
GOLD FOR A GRINHAM
Rachael Grinham joined her sister Natalie in the Commonwealth Games
final as she ended the run of New Zealand's Shelley Kitchen in the
second women's semi-final.
Kitchen competed strongly in the first, but after the Aussie second
seed clinched that game it was all Grinham.
The win ensures that the women's title will stay in Australian hands
as the sisters bid to join Michelle Martin and Sarah Fitz-Gerald as
Commonwealth champion ...
 "I
think I got a bit nervous at the end… Also, Shelley plays with a lot of
pace, and it’s hard to keep focused sometimes…"
"Tomorrow, Natalie and I don’t care who’ll win, we’ll be happy for the
other one if we lose, we’re just going to have a great day.
"It’s everything we could hope for, and we couldn’t wish for a better
result…"
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 "I’m
really happy to be here, we get so much support.. And I can’t say that I’m
happy just to be in the semis, but I’m really glad I got to that stage of
the competition already…
"Today, I had my game plan, which was not to let her in the front, and
every time I was letting her there, I knew I was in for a lot of trouble,
I should have kept her in the back corners, and earned my points there…
"The first game was crucial, I had a few opportunities, but I played a
couple of very bad shots, and that first game is so important, I got
frustrated not to have taken it…
"It’s tough to have to play tomorrow against Nicol, the last CWG, once you
were in the semis, you were assured a bronze medal. But now, you’ve got to
earn it.
"Tomorrow, I know it’s going to be tough. Nicol had a hard match today,
but she normally bounces back pretty well.
"I've had good close matches against her, I took a game of her recently,
so I’m still going to get in there, relax, play my game, and enjoy…"
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[1] David Palmer
(Aus) bt [5] Lee Beachill (Eng)
9/0, 9/4, 9/4 (59m) |
DAVID SPOTLESS…
 Squash
is so not predictable these days, and I’m so glad I’m not a betting
woman, because I don’t see how you could have predicted such a result
after Lee’s sublime performance yesterday. To make it short, David
outplayed Lee like the Englishman outplayed Stewart the day before,
and that my friends took some doing, because like I told you
yesterday, I hadn’t seen Lee playing so well for a very long time…
After the match, David was blessing his encounter in the quarter with
Johnny White, who put him through the hectic pace mill, which gave him
such a advantage today. And the Australian looked so much at his ease,
he seemed to have soooo much time on the ball, whereas Lee was always
chasing it …
The second game was crucial, the longest game of the match, 25
minutes, where both players were so close, 1/1, 3/3, 4/4, but then,
two unforced errors from Lee, on a forehand redrop, the other one on a
backhand dropshot, and that seemed to unsettle him. He was not going
to score another point in that game.
Down 2/0, the Pontefract man was still fighting, and was dominating
the middle, but David was hitting some astonishing drop shots or
volley drops from so far behind that Lee had more and more trouble
picking up… And against all odds, from 3/4 down David closed it out in
less than an hour, 3/0.
A result that, no offence to David, I wouldn’t have predicted, knowing
how unwell and physically not at his best the Australian was only days
ago. But a delighted Australian, a mighty proud family, and an over
the moon country, will all play in the final against the Boss
tomorrow…
 "My
performance tonight is all due to last night’s match against John, he
played at such a pace, I was always behind, I never felt comfortable with
that fast and hectic pace.
"And as Lee plays at a slower rhythm, I felt that I had plenty of time to
get to the ball, I was very comfortable…
"I had nothing to lose tonight, a week ago, I didn’t even think that I was
going to be able to play, and certainly not getting into the final!
"Against Lee, I do well when I volley a lot, but if I get into long
rallies up and down the wall, in particular on his backhand, I get into
all sorts of problems, and we saw what he did to Stewart last night… So
with Shaun, and Geoff and Byron, we discussed about how I needed to step
up and volley.
"In the third, I thought that the worst thing I could do now was to let
him have short and easy rallies, so I started to lengthen the rallies a
bit, to try and tire him out, as he seemed a bit tired after his long
match against Stewart yesterday.
"Then I picked the pace up again at 4/4, and he gave me two easy unforced
errors that took me to 6/4… Also, I played a lot on his forehand in the
back corner, and then followed it with a volley drop shot on the other
side, and that combination worked quite well tonight…"
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 "He
didn’t let me play my game tonight at all, from the first rally, he played
very well and didn’t give me anything. He was so fast on the ball, hitting
it very well, and I could only put it back into play…
"In the second and the third, I started to get into the match, but he took
the control again, and his attacks were excellent tonight.
"It’s nice to have my family around for such a big event, to have their
support…"
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 "Amazing
performance, he didn’t fault in any way…
"I was not expecting such a result, but I was hoping for a victory, and
that’s what champions do, they come up a level at crucial times…"
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