Squash: Team hopes lie with doubles

Jaclyn Hawkes and Shelley Kitchen will team up for the women's doubles at the Commonwealth Games in October. Photo / Greg Bowker

New Zealand hope a strong focus on doubles will put them firmly in the squash medal frame at October's Commonwealth Games.

A team of six - four of them women, reflecting where New Zealand's strength lies at present - was named yesterday for the event in New Delhi, including former world No 6 Shelley Kitchen, winner of two medals in Melbourne four years ago.

The highest-ranked of the six is Jaclyn Hawkes, at No 14, and while the likelihood of singles success is slimmer than in the doubles, in Hawkes and Cambridge's in-form Joelle King, the world No 20 and who has climbed 30 spots in the last year, New Zealand have two solid singles performers.

Such is New Zealand's determination to make a doubles impact, the squad includes Wainuiomata's Tamsyn Leevey, who no longer plays professionally, but is well-regarded for her doubles game.

Kitchen and Leevey won silver in the women's doubles in Melbourne, while Kitchen won bronze in the singles and, with partner Glen Wilson, had a match ball opportunity in the mixed doubles which would have guaranteed at least a bronze.

Doubles was introduced for the Kuala Lumpur Commonwealth Games of 1998. Some leading countries take a dim view of the doubles game, but New Zealand coach Anthony Ricketts, a former world No 3 for Australia, reckons this country has the right attitude.

"Over the years New Zealand has taken a different stance and tried to make specialist doubles players rather than rely purely on singles players," he said yesterday.

"I think we've done a great job. We still take it a lot more seriously than some of the real powerhouses, like the United Kingdom, who are very solid in singles, have lots of top-10 players and who assume that's enough to win doubles events."

Ricketts, a 31-year-old Sydneysider, is Kitchen's partner and they have a four-month-old daughter, Amalia.

Kitchen retired last year to prepare for the birth of her daughter and is back chasing more medals in New Delhi.

She intends playing the women's world teams championships in Palmerston North in December before stepping aside for good.

The combinations have been decided for New Delhi - Kitchen will team up with Hawkes and Matthew Grayson in the mixed (both won gold at last year's Australian doubles champs); King will partner Leevey and Martin Knight. All bar Leevey will contest the singles.

Grayson and Knight are in the men's doubles, in which they finished fourth in Melbourne four years ago.

Ricketts said the women's combinations weren't picked with clear first- and second-choice partnerships in mind.

"We're lucky to have two very solid pairs," he said. "We didn't choose to put a stronger pair to try and guarantee a gold medal. We put combinations together which we thought gelled the best."

Ricketts played in the last two Commonwealth Games for Australia before the cumulative effect of five knee surgeries cut short his playing career.

NZ GAMES TEAM

Men
* Campbell Grayson (Auckland, world No 40),
* Martin Knight (Wellington, No 42)

Women
* Jaclyn Hawkes (Auckland, No 14),
* Joelle King (Cambridge, No 20),
* Shelley Kitchen (Auckland, unranked),
* Tamsyn Leevey (Wainuiomata, unranked)