Welsh Players Aiming For Games Squash Doubles Glory

Tesni Evans, who won a bronze medal in the squash singles, is making progress in the Women’s Doubles at the Commonwealth Games.

Cardiff-born Evans, who now lives in Rhyl, is playing alongside Barry’s Deon Saffery on the Gold Coast.

The sixth seeds from Wales lost against number three ranked pair Joshna Chinappa and Dipika Pallikal Karthik (India) 8-11, 7-11 in a pool match, but then won against Pakistan’s Faiza Zafar and Madina Zafar 11-3, 11-5 in 16 minutes.

Evans and Saffery now play Rachael Grinham and Donna Urquhart, the fourth seeds from Australia, in the quarter-finals.

Peter Creed is partnering Evans in the mixed doubles and they are through to the last 16 where they play Faiza Zafar and Farhan Zaman (Pakistan).

Creed, who plays out of the Rhiwbina club in Cardiff, and Evans, who are number three seeds, clinched their place in the next round thanks to an 11-5, 11-5 victory Marlene West and Cameron Stafford (Cayman Islands) in 15 minutes.

Laura Massaro & Sarah-Jane Perry (England, pictured) play Rachel Arnold and Sivasangari Subramaniam (Malaysia) in the women’s doubles quarter-finals. Pic: Toni Van der Kreek.

Creed and Pembrokeshire’s Joel Makin were awarded a walkover against Sierra Leone’s Ernest Jombla and Yusif Mansard, while the Welsh pair were edged out 7-11, 11-8, 10-11 by India’s Vikram Malhotra and Ramit Tandon in their group.

That match lasted 46 minutes before Malhotra and Tandon emerged winners.

There were 30 pool matches spread across five courts as the squash action moved into the knockout stages on Thursday in the women’s and mixed Doubles at Oxenford Studios, Australia.

A crucial encounter in the women’s event opened proceeding on the all-glass show court where top-seeded New Zealanders Joelle King and Amanda Landers-Murphy faced Aussie pair Sarah Cardwell and Christine Nunn, the number eight seeds.

The Kiwi World champions – after losing in Monday’s first pool match – had to win in order to progress to the knockout stage.

Rachel Arnold and Sivasangari Subramaniam, the ninth seeds from Malaysia, completed a second successive women’s doubles upset win by fighting back from a game down to beat Sarah Cardwell and Christine Nunn (Australia) 10-11, 11-6, 11-5 in 38 minutes. Pic: Toni Van der Kreek.

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 out,” said King. “Doubles is one of those games where it takes a little bit to gell – especially when you’ve been playing singles and you’ve got to try and switch over. We certainly gelled a lot better in that game.”

Women’s quarter-final line-up:

[9] Rachel Arnold & Sivasangari Subramaniam (Malaysia) v [7] Laura Massaro & Sarah-Jane Perry (England)

[3] Joshna Chinappa & Dipika Pallikal Karthik (India) v [5] Samantha Cornett & Nikki Todd (Canada)

[4] Rachael Grinham & Donna Urquhart (Australia) v [6] Tesni Evans & Deon Saffery (Wales)

[2] Jenny Duncalf & Alison Waters (England) v [1] Joelle King & Amanda Landers-Murphy (New Zealand)

Mixed doubles last 16 round line-up:

[1] Joelle King & Paul Coll (New Zealand) v [15] Meagan Best & Shawn Simpson (Barbados)

[8] Joshna Chinappa & Harinder Pal Sandhu (India) v [10] Amanda Landers-Murphy & Zac Millar (New Zealand)

[3] Tesni Evans & Peter Creed (Wales) v [13] Faiza Zafar & Farhan Zaman (Pakistan)

[5] Dipika Pallikal Karthik & Saurav Ghosal (India) v [11] Aifa Azman & Sanjay Singh Chal (Malaysia)

[6] Rachael Grinham & Ryan Cuskelly (Australia) v [12] Madina Zafar & Tayyab Aslam (Pakistan)

[4] Donna Urquhart & Cameron Pilley (Australia) v [14] Marlene West & Cameron Stafford (Cayman Islands)

[7] Jenny Duncalf & Adrian Waller (England) v [9] Lisa Aitken & Kevin Moran (Scotland)

[2] Alison Waters & Daryl Selby (England) v [16] Dianne Kellas & Bradley Hindle (Malta).