Squash: Kitchen revels in the heat

Shelley Kitchen is really cooking with gas. New Zealand's premier squash player will take on the favoured Australian sisters, Rachel and Natalie Grinham, in the women's doubles with partner Tamsyn Leevey in the final today.

She is also likely to play in the gold medal match of the mixed doubles with partner Glen Wilson.

Her success - she stands to win the most medals of any New Zealand athlete in these Games after already winning a bronze by beating world champion Nicol David (Malaysia) in the singles - has lifted squash into the limelight in an otherwise lacklustre Games for New Zealand.

Apart from Kitchen's likely three medals, New Zealand's other women's doubles pair, Louise Crome and Lara Petera - who lost to Kitchen/Leevey in the semi-finals yesterday - will battle for the bronze, as will men's doubles team Campbell Grayson and Martin Knight today.

If they all come off, squash will have brought home five medals when the Sparc forecast for the was two.

Kitchen, of Kaitaia, is tall and graceful, with a ready smile. Medals will be hugely deserved as she's been probably the busiest New Zealander at these Games. She played from the first day of competition to the last in a gruelling schedule.

It was almost a case of watching for Richie McCaw to fly into the ruck and grab the ball in the clash with Crome and Petera - that was how physical it was when Kiwi met Kiwi for the right to play for gold.

In the end, Kitchen and Leevey came home strongly in a bruising five-gamer - guaranteeing Kitchen and Leevey at least a silver.

Petera copped the worst of it, hit in the wrist, knee and back by the ball, and with a painful funny-bone after Kitchen accidentally clipped her elbow with her racquet. The wrist injury was potentially the most serious but Petera shrugged off suggestions it might hamper her in today's bronze showdown against England's Tania Bailey and Vicky Botwright.

While the physical nature of the match was one talking point, the other was the eerie silence in which a confused crowd watched it. With two New Zealand pairings on court, no one seemed to know who to cheer for.

"They didn't mean it, none of it was deliberate," said Petera of being hit so often. She had to leave the court to have her knee iced late in the fifth game. "We were disappointed to lose, particularly after building up that lead. Now Louise and I just have to rest, discuss the game, see where the errors were and finish with a medal."

Crome and Petera started out like they meant to finish the match in half an hour. They blitzed Kitchen and Leevey in fast-paced opening games, to lead 2-0.

Kitchen said: "We led them 2-0 in the worlds and they came back, so we just told ourselves that, if they could do it, so could we."

The turning point possibly came in the third game, with Crome controlling the longest rally of the match. Leevey kept them in it with a desperate boast off the back wall but later tinned out off the side wall. That pulled Crome and Petera up to 3-4, and two games up, and it looked bad for Kitchen and Leevey. However, Leevey came back strongly, played a strong hand in the next two points and they took the third game 9-4, after Petera's funny-bone incident.

Kitchen and Leevey won the fourth 9-6 and galloped home 9-3 as Crome and Petera tired from the fast pace they had been setting. "We knew they couldn't hang on at that pace, it's pretty hard to keep that up over five sets," said Kitchen. "We knew we had to be patient and keep playing good squash."

Petera's knee injury was a handy break as it allowed them to halt the momentum of the other pair, up 7-3 in the last game. But Kitchen and Leevey carried on to win.

-HERALD ON SUNDAY