After little coverage, players would like to see some love

SQUASH: The world’s fastest man is on the Gold Coast – and it’s not Usain Bolt.

Aussie Cameron Pilley who is partnered with Ryan Cuskelly in the men’s squash doubles, has a handy weapon.

Pilley, 35, stands at 191cm and is a speed demon, having clocked the world’s fastest recorded squash shot – 283km/h.

“I’ve always hit the ball hard and it helps having long levers being tall,” Pilley said.

“It wasn’t exactly an aim for me to try and get the world record (in 2016), but I happened to hit the ball the fastest of the guys on tour.

“I’ll use it in doubles if I need to. It’s a good one to have up the sleeve.”

Pilley and Cuskelly are the top seeds — a factor Pilley says they once took for granted — and have been spurred by winning bronze at the 2010 Delhi Games.

Cuskelly grew up in Evans Head, just an hour from the Gold Coast, so will have plenty of support on hand as they hunt a medal.

After it was inundated with complaints about a lack of mainstream coverage, squash’s governing body encouraged fans of the sport to contact Channel 7 directly this week.

Cuskelly, 30, said he hoped the speedy spectacle would earn more airtime in coming days.

“The girls got on the live TV (yesterday), but there wasn’t much of the singles, which was disappointing,” he said, adding that the focus on swimming had been “understandable”.

“It’d be nice if they showed some love to the squash players.”