Back on the horse, King takes gold with LandersMurphy
GOLD COAST: An exhausted Joelle King lifted for her final match to earn a second Commonwealth Games squash gold, this time with doubles partner Amanda LandersMurphy.
The Kiwi duo downed the Indian Glasgow goldmedal pair of Joshna Chinappa and Dipika Pallikal Karthik 119, 118 inside 21 minutes at Oxenford Studios on the Gold Coast yesterday, the final day of the Games.
King (29) earlier won gold in the women’s singles and bronze when she paired with Paul Coll in the mixed doubles.
Coll won silver in the men’s singles, giving the sevenstrong New Zealand squash team a total of four medals.
King played 16 games of squash on the Gold Coast and was in action every day.
‘‘I’m absolutely knackered,’’ she said after the women’s doubles victory.
‘‘We’ve had a tough schedule and there’s no getting away from it. I definitely would not be here without my team picking me up all the time and getting me back on the horse.
‘‘It’s funny, today I felt the best out of the whole time. I woke up with a spring in my step...
‘‘Tonight is going to be just about enjoying it with our team and we get to see our families tonight. So it’s going to be pretty nice to get out of the village and back to a normal life.’’
The gold medal was LandersMurphy’s first after she was knocked out of the singles and mixed doubles competitions.
‘‘It’s sort of something I never thought would actually happen. It’s pretty surreal at the moment,’’ she said. — NZN