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• Day D4 • Day D3 • Day D2 • Day D1 • FINALS • SEMIS • QUARTERS • Day 2 • Day 1 • Update •
  
TODAY AT THE GAMES
Sun 26th, Doubles FINALS:
 It
was the final day in Melbourne, with nine medals up for grabs as the
doubles competition reached its conclusion.
It was Australia all the way in the mixed event, with Natalie Grinham &
Joe Kneipp taking Gold, while Rachael and David Palmer collected the
bronze.
Natalie went on to claim her third gold of the games as she and Rachael
took the Women's title, recovering from a game down against the Kiwi world
champion pairing, while Vicky Botwright and Tania Bailey collected Bronze
for England.
In the men's event Australia took their medal tally to eight in the bronze
match, and Peter Nicol and Lee Beachill retained their title in the
final, the longest match of the tournament, beating Anthony Ricketts and
Stewart Boswell in a repeat of the 2002 final.
Men's Final:
gold
[2] Lee Beachill & Peter Nicol
(ENG) bt
silver
[1] Stewart Boswell & Anthony Ricketts (AUS)
7/9, 9/7, 9/1, 10/8 (143m)
bronze
[3] Dan Jenson & David
Palmer (AUS) bt
[5] Campbell Grayson &
Martin Knight (NZL)
9/2, 9/4, 6/9, 9/6 (90m)
Women's Final:
gold
[1] Natalie Grinham &
Rachael Grinham (AUS) bt
silver
[2] Shelley Kitchen & Tamsyn Leevey (NZL)
1/9, 9/4, 9/3, 9/3 (57m)
bronze [3] Tania Bailey & Vicky Botwright (ENG) bt
[4] Louise Crome & Lara
Petera (NZL)
10/8, 4/9, 9/4, 9/6 (80m)
Mixed Final:
gold
[3] Natalie Grinham &
Joseph Kneipp (AUS) bt
silver
[4] Vicky Botwright &
James Willstrop (ENG)
6/9, 9/6, 9/5, 9/6 (60m)
bronze [1] Rachael Grinham & David Palmer (AUS) bt
[2] Shelley Kitchen & Glen Wilson (NZL)
9/4, 9/6, 9/6 (29m)
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ROUNDUP
from Framboise
SQUASH
MEDAL TABLE
EN BREF #7
BBC coverage
GALLERY:
from Howard Harding
DRAWS
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EARLY START
 I’ve never had such an early start for a final, I must admit. But it’s all
due to two factors. One, the unpredictable length of doubles matches,
and two, the deadline of the closing ceremony. And that’s why the bronze
are being played on the outside courts (not to mention that both Shelley
and Rachael, playing for the bronze mixed, are also finalists in the
women!)
And if it’s not that easy for the journalists to be here so early after
such a late finish, I don’t even want to know how the players are feeling,
especially the players of the Mixed Doubles that finished past 11pm last
night, as in James and Vicky, for the gold, and Shelley and Glen, for the
bronze, who are starting the day at 10am, then!
Not to mention that Vicky, Shelley, David Palmer and the Grinham Sisters
have got two matches back to back!
What a schedule, people, what a day…
Framboise |
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JUST TOO GOOD…
Well, I’m sure England was hoping for a miracle, but none happened. After
an awesome semi-final against the New Zealand pair last night, the
Botwright-Willstrop pair was bound to be a bit flat…
But they started well, very well, as they had nothing to lose, and went
for all their shots. The Australians were a bit nervous, and Natalie made
a few unforced errors that helped the English to seize the first 9/6 in 14
minutes.
In the second, the Australians were pretty much in control, and even if
the English saved one game ball, they could catch up and lose it, same
length, same score.
The rest of the match was a festival from both Natalie and Joe, finding
some stupendous shots/angles, that James and Vicky exhausted
themselves picking up. What those two saved last night is nobody’s
business, but the Australians just kept them coming at such a rhythm,
to such perfection…
The fourth was pretty much point for point, the English pair hanging in
there, fighting for their gold, and came back from 6/3 to 6/7. But Natalie
found some superb length and shots, and one match ball was going to be
enough.
Joe had a terrible season, and he must be over the moon. Natalie is
collecting gold medals like stamps. Vicky has one more shot at the gold
in four years hopefully, and for a first attempt, Mr Willstrop gets a
silver.
This is a good day for squash…
 "They are so fricking good!
"I thought we played very well tonight, we couldn’t have played better,
after last night late finish. We gave it all, I even think we played
better than last night! I played some pretty good shots, but Natalie
retrieved everything…
"James is so supportive, when we finished, I was so upset, and I think I
would have been able to retaliate if he had been nasty or something, but
he was so nice, so kind, he just made me crack up….
"I think that tomorrow, we will wake up and realise we could have lost last
night, and not get anything."
Vicky Botwright |
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"In the first game, I was a bit nervous, going for the gold is always
difficult… But then I settled…
"I have no expectation for the next match, I’m just happy to be there, and
I’m going to just do my best, hoping it will be enough…"
Natalie Grinham
"We had a bit of an edgy start, the “shaky racquet” syndrome, you know. But
we started to relax in the middle of the second and then it became very
easy. Natalie was awesome. Vicky started well, and then Natalie played
extremely well, even to James.
"Now, I just going to enjoy the moment. I so wanted to win a medal here,
whatever colour, and yesterday, after we won at least silver, I was so
happy. We knew we could do it, but we had to do it when it mattered. And
that’s what we did….
"Tonight, I may have a beer or two… before flying off to Bermuda where I’ll
meet my girlfriend to compete in the Bermuda Masters."
Joe Kneipp |
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GREEDY NATALIE
Natalie Grinham, the younger sister from Australia, was destined to be the
star of those CWG, as they started on her 28th birthday, and she actually
cancelled her honeymoon to prepare for the event with her team mates…
But in the end, it was all worth it.
After winning the probably most beautiful medal of them all, the Singles
Gold against sis Rachael, she went on to win her two semi finals, one with
Joe Kneipp, and then one with Rachael.
And this morning, she started the show by taking a second gold medal with
Joe, had a few minutes to refocus, and off she went again on court with
Rachael to try and establish the record of all records, three gold medals….
No wonder she had trouble concentrating in the first game, and their
strong-hitting opponents took advantage of the little lapse in
concentration.
But after that, really, it was a trouble free ride, well, only 57 minutes
for a doubles, it’s really a quick game! We had quite a few cross court
rallies, with a very good length and weight in the ball from Shelley, but
Natalie soon found her lethal drop shots, and Rachael her length.
The final result was in no doubt in my mind, and it was only fitting that
the Golden Australian new Mrs Berden scored the three wining shots in her
three matches…
 "I was so disappointed after our loss in the mixed doubles last night,
after having match balls. And then we finished so late, and had to be on
court at 10 for the bronze, and then the women’s…
"But to be honest, I didn’t expect to do so well here, a bronze in the
singles, a silver in the doubles.
"I guess I may appear like a spoiled
player, because there are so many nations that didn’t get any medals, and
I get two, and still, I’m disappointed. No, we are so lucky to be here, in
the final…
"I think something’s got to be done about the schedule, I don’t
know, maybe cutting the days off, I’m not sure, but it’s just too
heavy, and something’s got to be done…"
Shelley Kitchen
"We are disappointed today. Yesterday was all joy at winning at least the
silver, but today, it’s just the loss. I’m sure we’ll feel different after
we get our medal…
"We’ve made our goal, matched our seeding, and really really very happy to
get silver…"
Tamsyn Leevey |
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"Here she is, my little star of the week…
"I’m too tired to feel anything, I think that the last time I really felt
some real joy is when we won the semi final, and that tired me out for at least
half the day! So much happened, we played so many doubles games in the
last 48 hours, I’m struggling to feel anything, I’m exhausted, and
it’s really hard to jump and down…
"Natalie is speaking about having a beer, I tell you, if I have a beer
right now, I think that I would be sick."
Rachael Grinham
"That’s a perfect honeymoon…!
"It’s not so much a physical tiredness as a mental one, because
you’ve got to stay focused on the rallies that can go on forever.
I was just mentally trying to stay in it, to stick with it, and I
knew that the other girls had been playing a lot of squash as
well…
"Forget the beer, I think we’ll have champagne! I don’t think I realise yet, I think that after I have my shower, and
receive the medal, and a few hours have passed, I’ll probably be screaming
through the roof…
"I didn’t expect any of this at the start of the tournament. I try and
never put expectations on myself, just doing my best and hoping it will be
good enough. And yes, there was a slight chance that this might have happened,
but we really didn’t expect anything…"
Natalie Grinham |
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"Tania and I were happy to win in
four, and wining two medals feels good.
"After my match with James, I was really upset, but I had a chat with
James, Tania and the coaches, and when I went on court, I felt
absolutely fine.
"And now I feel absolutely knackered!
"After getting “only” the silver, I was pretty disappointed, but if
you had told me a few weeks ago that I would win a silver and a
bronze, I would have been happy with that."
Vicky Botwright |
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A
LOOOOONG GAME…
I wish I’d been around on the International circuit when the Boss was
at the top of his form, because if what I’ve seen for these past 14
days is the leftovers of what he used to be, my GOD it’s a blipping
miracle anybody could ever beat him. Such a determination, assurance,
will, flair and game intelligence. The man never gives up. The man
NEVER gives up.
I was frightened by his strength and almost rage during the final
against David for the singles gold. But I was amazed yesterday that he
didn’t flinch an eyelash when being taken for a punching ball by both
Dan and David during the semi final. It was absolutely astonishing. A
rock. A wall, a cliff. Nothing went through…
 And
what about today? The last game only was one minute short of an hour,
and ends on a tie-break. Talk about keeping your cool, keeping your
nerve.
Every rally was so long, not much variety, not like yesterday
where both Dan and David were going for shots and volleying like
crazy, but a solid line of fire from both teams, hard hitting, and a
lot of retrieving from Stewart, who was the poor punter everybody was
picking on.
As is often the case in doubles, both Lee and Anthony were less on the
fence, but still, they had to perform at the peak at any given time,
and that’s maybe even more difficult than when you are in the groove
of things…
To be perfectly honest, and I don’t mean any offence to either of the
players, but I lost the will to live during some of the rallies. Guys,
something’s got to be done. Surely the players don’t deserve such
punishment, however badly they behaved in their previous life…
I’m not sure what would have happened if the Australians had equalised
2/2, as both Anthony and Stewart were much fresher than their
opponents, and age (sorry Peter) could have played an important role.
But we will never now. After 2 hours, 17 minutes and 19 seconds of
patience, technique, talent and will, along with his mate from
Pontefract, The Boss signs his name at the end of the History books
yet again, in blood and sweat.
"We are disappointed, even more
disappointed than the first time, because we fail again and in
Australia, where there was a lot of expectations. But it was a
very long game, and they fought very hard. We were just not good
enough today."
Anthony Ricketts
"I concur ..."
Stewart Boswell |
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"I’m a bit spaced out, it’s great to win, but it’s so hard that
game. I’m sure that I’ll enjoy it when I have the time to think
about it.
"It’s wonderful. Two gold medals in a row, I never done that
before. And at some stage, I would have been happy with just two
medals…
"It’s a tough, tough game. What I think made the difference today
was that Lee and I we actually enjoy playing together, and
whatever it takes, however long it lasts, however many lets we’ve
got to play, again and again, we actually enjoy being on court
together, and it makes it somewhat enjoyable…
"If I didn’t jump with joy at the end, it because we just played
2h20 minutes, and that there is nothing left to give, and that it
doesn’t feel like we won, because the other guys worked as hard as
we did. You just want to shake their hands, and congratulate them.
"In Manchester, it was much more exciting, because I didn’t win
the singles gold, there was much more expectations. This time was
more pleasure…
"This is the end, my friend, the end…"
Peter Nicol
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"It’s feel really good to win a medal, especially as I missed on the last
two CWG. I could have been selfish, and taken the three gold, but…
"No, it
feels really good to win a medal…"
Dan Jenson
"I’m pretty gutted. We were a little
slow to start with, but we played at the top of our game.
"We’ve trained really hard for this event, and we put our best foot
forward.
"We didn’t do a lot wrong. They took the game away from us, they were
too good."
Martin Knight
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"I think this whole week shows what a spectacle sport squash is…"
David Pearson
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 "It’s a bad day for the rest of them! It’s
an exceptionally good day for Australia. We reached our goal that we set
up for ourselves before the games.
"All the athletes gave their 100%, and some of them played in several
events, both singles, doubles and mixed doubles. A lot of people told us
that we were wrong, that it couldn’t be done….
"The last 2 ½ years of training, going to England twice, plus the World
Doubles, paid off so far…
"Natalie has established a record that nobody can beat, only equal.
It's the first time it’s been done and I’m proud she’s done it in
Australia…"
Norman Fry
Squash Australia CEO |
"I guess the most precious medal to me
is the singles, but any gold for Australia is always good. And I was
very happy with both my partners…" |
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