Squash: Kitchen and Leevy to play for gold, men for bronze

MELBOURNE - New Zealand's world champion squash doubles pairing of Shelley Kitchen and Tamsyn Leevy are through to the Commonwealth Games gold medal decider.

They beat compatriots Louise Crome and Lara Petera in the first of two semifinals at the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre today.

After dropping the opening two games, Kitchen and Leevy fought back to prevail 3-9 8-10 9-4 9-6 9-3 in a contest lasting 90 minutes.

They will play the winners of tonight's second semifinal (due at 7pm NZ time) between Australian sisters Natalie and Rachel Grinham and Enlgish duo Tania Bailey and Vicky Bothright.
Both the final and the bronze medal match will be played tomorrow.


* Martin Knight and Campbell Grayson have exceeded expectations by gaining the right to play for the men's doubles squash bronze medal tomorrow.


The fifth-seeded New Zealanders were denied a shot at gold by reigning world champion Australians Stewart Boswell and Anthony Ricketts in their semifinal today, losing in straight games 9-6 11-9 11-9.


They will play either an Australian combination (Dan Jenson/David Palmer) or English pair (Lee Beachill/Peter Nicol) depending on the outcome of the second semifinal later today.


- NZPA