Veteran Grinham grabs 8th medal
SQUASH: Rachael Grinham has never left a Commonwealth Games without a medal, and the Australian former world No.1 sure as hell wasn’t going to give up her final chance at her fifth Games.
Twenty years on from her debut at Kuala Lumpur in 1998, Grinham (pictured) added an eighth squash medal to her prolific Games career after clinching the women’s doubles bronze with teammate Donna Urquhart.
The pair claimed a straightforward 2-0 play-off win over England duo Laura Massaro and Sarah-Jane Perry yesterday.
After racing to a secondgame 6-0 lead, the Australians endured a feisty England fightback and were pushed all the way to 9-8. But they held on to win the final two points and seal a 11-6 11-8 triumph that brought sweet relief for Grinham.
“I was close to walking away from these Games without a medal but luckily we turned it on today with an awesome match,” the 41-year-old said.
“That was a really good result, we beat them quite comfortably which is hard to do in doubles.”
As it happened, it was Urquhart who’d snuffed out Grinham’s only other chance at a medal three days ago.
She and cousin Cameron Pilley downed Grinham and Ryan Cuskelly in an all-Aussie mixed doubles encounter before going on to claim gold on Saturday night.
Urquhart said it had taken all her focus to back up 12-odd hours later for Sunday’s showdown.
“I had to kept my head screwed on last night and make sure I didn’t get too carried away feeling excited about that,” Urquhart said.
“Because this match meant just as much to me.”
BRONZE: Donna Urquhart and Rachael Grinham celebrate.