Coll Progresses While Grayson Goes Down in 5 in El Gouna

A win and a loss for the Kiwi male squash players in the US$150,000 men’s El Gouna International in, Egypt overnight.

Rising world squash star Paul Coll from Greymouth won his first round match in straight games 11-7, 11-4, 11-3 over Englishman Tom Richards and will now face fifth seed and current world No.7 James Willstrop (England )in a bid to make the quarter-finals.

The pair played earlier this year at the JP Morgan tournament of champions in January with Willstrop winning in four games. Coll is at a career-high world ranking of 13.

Meanwhile Kiwi qualifier Campbell Grayson was beaten by Australian veteran Cameron Pilley in the first round of the El Gouna tournament in five games. Pilley ranked 17 in the world took 97 minutes for the 6-11, 5-11, 11-3, 13-11, 11-9 victory from Grayson.

Meanwhile Joelle King will play her first round match tonight at the Women’s World Squash Championships, also in El Gouna, Egypt.

Waikato player King is the ninth seed and faces Heba El Torky (Egypt), who is ranked 24 in the world, in the first round. A win in the first round for the 28-year-old King would see her likely to play Englishwoman Laura Masaro the fifth seed.

It is the sixth time King has appeared in the world champs for a best result of the quarter-finals in 2013.The world champs have a prize purse of US$165,000.

The El Gouna Championships and the Women's World Championships will be on SquashTV from the 7-14 April. To rewatch any of our Kiwi players past matches sign up to Squash TV here using the promo code NZ50 to receive 50% off your first 3 months. Good luck to our kiwis!