NZ Team in Darwin for Doubles Championship

NZ players have landed in Darwin ahead of the Darwin International Squash Doubles Championship.

The 4 strong team of Amanda Landers-Murphy, Paul Coll, Martin Knight and Megan Craig (alongside coach Paul Hornsby) have made the trip to take part in the warm up event for the Commonwealth games in Glasgow next year.

With the NZ Olympic Committee picking the final squad for the Commonwealth Games, this event will help them decide on selection, and gives members of the squad a chance to build international doubles experience.

The Darwin tournament will feature top players from New Zealand, Australia and Scotland including a number of top 20 men and women players including former world number 1 David Palmer from Australia.

The tournament kicks off in earnest on 23 August at the new squash centre in Darwin, featuring 12 state of the art courts with adjustable walls and tins to cater for the wider court and lower tin used in doubles events.

Our very own Coach Hornsby will be sending us updates as the event progresses and we will be posting these on the website. Below are his thoughts from the first few days.

Day 1

A long day of travel! After meeting at Auckland airport at 4am, the team finally arrived in Darwin (via Sydney 12 hours later). 33 degrees of heat met us and the players quickly checked into their rooms before a gym session to work up a sweat and then diving into the pool! Finding a restaurant and supermarket was far from straight forward, but we got there eventually and got stocked up with water and food for breakfast before crashing for an early night.

Day 2

First day on court. Scotland (who have flown a total of 10 players, plus 1 coach and 1 physio over for the event) kindly agreed to allow us some time joining in their practice session so that Amanda & Megan could practice against 2 girls and Martin & Paul 2 boys. This worked out well and gave the players some different competition and style of play. A bite to eat and then back on court for an all kiwi session with our 2 mixed pairings going head to head, the winners choosing where we went for dinner. Paul & Amanda won 2 closely fought games against Martin & Megan to take the honours! The pairs played 2 more sets (1-1) making for a good workout and productive hitting session.

Check out the Squash Australia page for all the draws and results.