NZ women still in medals hunt
GOLD COAST: Kiwis Joelle King and Amanda LandersMurphy have beaten second seeds Jenny Duncalf and Alison Waters in a hardfought squash doubles quarterfinal at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games.
But King and mixed doubles partner Paul Coll have been shocked at the semifinal stage by Saurav Ghosal and Dipika Pallikal Karthik, of India.
King and LandersMurphy beat their English opponents 1110, 115 yesterday, grafting for every point but eventually securing victory.
King, who won the gold medal in the women’s singles earlier this week, said snatching momentum in the second game had been key.
‘‘We did really well to keep our foot down on the pedal,’’ she said.
‘‘We gelled pretty well in the first, and in the second we really stepped it up.’’
However, the pairing slumped to a surprise defeat in their finalfour match.
Having won the first game 119, they contrived to lose the second 811 and then fall 1011 in the decider, conceding the decisive point.
They will play their bronze medal match today.
The match marked Coll’s second loss of the day, having fallen alongside Campbell Grayson in his men’s doubles quarterfinal clash.
Singles silver medallist Coll and Grayson were edged out by fifthseeded Australians Zac Alexander and David Palmer 911, 116, 711.
‘‘It is frustrating that we had a good start in the first and beginning of the third games, but then made a few too many errors and got away from our game tactics a bit,’’ Coll said. — NZN