AT PLAY: Joelle King and Khasif Suja - winners at the Wellington Open last year, opponents this time round ... PHOTOS/FILE
AT PLAY: Joelle King and Khasif Suja - winners at the Wellington Open last year, opponents this time round ... PHOTOS/FILE
Two members of Squash New Zealand's eight-strong squad for the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Joelle King and Amanda Landers-Murphy, will contest the Wellington Open championships to be hosted by the Masterton-based Red Star club, starting next Friday.
King, ranked No4 female player in the world and No1 in NewZealand, would have been a hot favourite for the premier division women's title but has decided to compete against the premier men instead. Her quality is illustrated by the fact she is expected to be among the top five seeds in a grade in which the experienced Palmerston North player Khasif Shuja will hold the number one seeding.
Shuja, once ranked No35 in the world and a five-time national champion, will be defending the title he won last year when the Masterton club staged the Wellington Open, the same year in which King took out the major women's event. The absence of King means the top seeding in the premier women's singles this year will clearly fall to Landers-Murphy. Success at the Commonwealth Games would be nothing new for King. She combined with Jaclyn Hawkes to win gold in the women's doubles in Delhi in 2010 and also picked up a silver in the mixed doubles in partnership with Martin Knight. She also came fifth in the singles. Her efforts in Delhi earned her the honour of carrying the New Zealand flag at the closing ceremony.
Initially King, from Cambridge, was the only player chosen to represent New Zealand in the singles at Glasgow but with the New Zealand Olympic Committee selectors endorsing a Squash New Zealand request to allow the players selected as part of a doubles team to also play in the singles that could change. King will partner Landers-Murphy in the doubles and team up again with Knight in the mixed doubles.
King's No4 ranking is the highest she has achieved on the world list and she makes no secret of the fact that making it to No1 is her prime objective. To help, she says she has been making regular visits to her psychologist, something she hopes will give her a clear mental edge over her opponents.
As for the Glasgow Games, King has been quoted as saying she has "high expectations" of bringing home more medals. She has been happy with the way she and Rotorua's left-handed Landers-Murphy - ranked No43 in the world - have been progressing in doubles and is expecting them to adapt well to the attacking style of play needed to shine at that level.
Squash New Zealand chief executive Jim O'Grady has also labelled King a "great chance" for a medal in the singles where her main opposition will come from Nicol David and Laura Massaro.
While Red Star is officially the host club for the Wellington open championships this year, the number of entries means the Masterton club's Villa Street headquarters will also be utilised for preliminary round play.
