Squash: Five-game despair for Joyce

New Zealand squash officials will welcome aboard new world champion Carol Owens once she qualifies to play for her adopted country.

The Auckland-based Australian beat New Zealand's world No 1, Leilani Joyce, in the world championship final in Edinburgh on Saturday and almost immediately declared her intention to represent New Zealand at the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester.

"I would love to be selected for New Zealand in the Commonwealth Games," said Owens, who is not competing in the world teams championship starting tomorrow in Sheffield, England.

World No 3 Owens has lived permanently in Auckland for the past 18 months after splitting her time between that city and her previous home in Melbourne.

She will fulfil the World Squash Federation's three-year residential qualification to play for New Zealand in early to mid-2002.

Squash New Zealand past chairman and current board member Nevin Barbour said Owens, aged 29, who is coached in Auckland by former England national coach Paul Wright, would be a welcome addition to this country's playing ranks.

"We would be happy to have her. With her and Leilani on board we would have a very formidable team," he said of Owens, who has previously criticised the lack of support she felt she received in Australia.

"Even though we are some way away from her being eligible it is fair to say it would need a major falloff in her form for Carol not to warrant selection for New Zealand," Barbour said.

Despite acknowledging Owens' attributes, Barbour was surprised at the result of the world championship final, which Joyce was expected to win after beating Owens in their last six encounters.

Joyce, the reigning British Open champion and heavily favoured to become the first New Zealander since Dame Susan Devoy in 1992 to win a world title, looked to have the match in safekeeping after winning the opening two games and leading 7-0 in the third.

But Owens demonstrated her renowned fighting qualities to pull off a stunning upset as she went on to win 7-9, 3-9, 10-8, 9-6, 9-1 in 67 minutes.

Joyce, aged 26, was philosophical after wasting match-points at 8-4 and 8-7 in the third game.

The only doubts about the outcome after that came when Joyce made a determined fightback in the fourth game from 2-6 to 6-7, but by then she was mentally and physically exhausted.

Two penalty strokes were awarded against her because she was unable to clear herself from her opponent's path as Owens was about to strike the ball, and these mishaps turned the contest.

They carried Owens to game-point and after she won the fourth game with a long rally, which lured a tiring Joyce into volleying down, she was completely in command.

Joyce accepted her defeat with dignity.

"Perhaps people don't realise the pressure there is, but I choose to put myself in this position," she said. "It is something I need to learn to handle properly in future.

"I can't complain too much. I'm still world No 1, I successfully defended my British Open title two months ago, and I am runner-up in the world champs.

"Winning here would have been an ideal way to finish off the year, but I was beaten on the day and I will be more motivated and more determined next year."

Joyce joins team-mates Louise Crome, Shelley Kitchen and Lara Petera in the world teams championships. Third-seeds New Zealand play their first pool game against Spain. The other pool opponents are France.

- NZPA