Epke Makes Finals of Youth Com Games

After a tough first day Ellie Epke has made it through to the Finals of the Youth Commonwealth Games in Samoa whilst Luke Jones went down to India's Velavan Senthilkumar.

After a tough first day Ellie Epke has made it through to the Semi-Finals of the Youth Commonwealth Games in Samoa whilst Luke Jones went down to India's Velavan Senthilkumar.

Luke Jones was the first kiwi squash player up at the Youth Commonwealth Games in Samoa. Jones played Adrian Rawston of the Norfolk Islands and after 20mins on court Jones came off victorious having secured an 11-0 win in the third and he made his way onto the quarter finals.

Ellie Epke was up next and she made light work of her opening match against Thandi Myers from St Vincent and Grenadines, winning in 3.

Luke Jones faced India's Velavan Senthilkumar who had made the top 16 at the World Junior Championships just over a month a go. Whilst Jones and his Indian counterpart battled it out in the heat and they both showed some great rallies it wasn't enough for Jones and he eventually went down in a tough 4 setter.

Ellie Epke beat the three-time Pacific Games gold medallist Lynette Vai in a hard fought 4 setter which pushed both players to show what they had on the court.

This win set Epke up for a semi-final encounter with Sadia Gul from Pakistan. Epke managed to get the first 2 games against Gul with some great rallies but the Pakistani pushed Epke in the third and whilst there were points it looked like it could go either players way it was eventually Epke who clinched the win 14/12 in the third.

Epke now faces the top seed Siva Subramaniam from Malaysia in the Gold medal playoff at 2pm Samoan time. Good luck Ellie!

Doubles games start later tonight as well.

Round 1

[3/4] Luke Jones bt Adrian Rawston (Norfolk Islands) - 11/8, 11/4, 11/0 - 20mins

[2] Ellie Epke bt Thandi Myers (St Vincent and Grenadines) - 11-5, 11-2, 11-5 - 15mins

Quarter Finals

[2] Eleanor Epke bt Lynette Vai (PNG) - 9-11, 13-11, 11-4, 11-7 - 32mins

Velavan Senthilkumar (IND) bt [3/4] Luke Jones (NZL) - 12-10, 3-11, 11-6, 11-5 - 45mins

Semi Finals

[2] Eleanor Epke bt Sadi Gul - 11-7, 11-7, 14-12 - 32mins