Kiwi’s Fail to Fly in First Round in Palmerston North 

Pictured Right - Fitzherbert Rowe Lawyers International Squash Classic - Round 1 - Kashif Shuja (NZL) vs James Huang (MAS)

The opening night of the Fitzherbert Rowe Lawyers International Squash Classic has not been a great one for the Kiwi’s. The top seed Paul Coll will be the only one flying the flag for the home country for the rest of the tournament after his fellow countrymen were all bundled out in the first round at SquashGym tonight.

Coll was dominant first up beating Mohd Syafig Kamal from Malaysia in three straight sets. “I got off to a slow start but settled into my work well and was pleased to get off the court in three games,” Coll reflected after the match. “I have had a heavy schedule of late and after this New Zealand series of tournaments I will definitely be taking a break.”

Home town player Kashif Shuja played a five set thriller for the second night in a row and for consecutive nights the result did not go his way. Shuja went down in qualifying but received a second chance by being drawn as the ‘lucky loser’ to enter the main draw. Shuja played well again but could not put his younger opponent James Huang away in the fourth which he lost 14 – 12 after being up two games to one. Huang out lasted Shuja in the fifth 11 – 7.

Wildcard local player Luke Jones played world number 80 Peter Creed of Wales and Jones was up against it from the start. The young Jones constructed some good rallies but was unable to finish and the experience of Creed shone through. “He has a good solid game that probably lacks a little bit of a touch at this stage,” Creed said of his opponent Jones after the match.

Wellington’s Evan Williams and multiple PSA tournament winner this year was expected to challenge second seed Rex Hedrick from Australia in what was tipped to be the match of the night. It didn’t live up to expectation with Williams making too many errors for the consistent Hedrick. Hedrick flourished in the warm, bouncing conditions and retrieved everything Williams threw at him. Hedrick won in a comfortable three games.

The match of the night was the last to be played. A marathon battle between Joshua Larkin and Eain Yo Ng. Ng came through two rounds of qualifying and he came out strong against Larkin taking a two games to one advantage. Larkin pulled back the fourth and set up a grandstand finish in front of a good crowd at SquashGym. In an enthralling final game Ng came out the victor 12 – 10.

The quarter finals get underway at 5.00pm tonight at SquashGym Palmerston North with free entry for spectators.

The tournament will also be streamed ‘live’ online to 1000’s around New Zealand and the World. You can watch the excitement here

Draws for the PSA event can be found here whilst the local event and womens draws can be found here

Make sure to check out what happened in the leadup, qualifying round 1 and qualifying round 2 as well!

Round 1 Main Draw

(1) Paul Coll (NZ) beat Mohd Syafig Kamal (MAS) 11 – 8, 11 – 6, 11 - 3

Kashif Shuja (NZ) lost to (8) James Huang (MAS) 9 – 11, 11 – 7, 11 – 4, 12 – 14, 11 - 7

(5) Peter Creed (WAL) beat Luke Jones (NZ) 11 – 4, 11 – 3, 11 - 6

Ashley Davies (ENG) lost to (3) Ivan Yuen (MAS) 7 – 11, 5 – 11, 4 - 11

(4) Angus Gillams (ENG) beat Lance Beddoes (NZ) 7 – 11, 11 – 4, 11 – 5, 11 -7

Matias Tuomi (FIN) lost to (6) Joshua Masters (ENG) 7 – 11, 1 – 11, 8 -11

(7) Joshua Larkin (AUS) lost to Eain Yo Ng (MAS) 11 – 8, 6 – 11, 8 – 11, 11 – 9, 10 - 12

Evan Williams (NZ) lost to (2) Rex Hedrick (AUS) 9 -11, 5 – 11, 1 – 11

Quarter finals

(1) Paul Coll (NZ) v (8) James Huang (MAS)

(5) Peter Creed (WAL) v (3) Ivan Yuen (MAS)

(4) Angus Gillams (ENG) v (6) Joshua Masters (ENG)

Eain Yo Ng (MAS) v (2) Rex Hedrick (AUS)

For more information; Michael Williams, Media Manager, 027 6712988 media@squashgym.co.nz