Americans' Run Ends in Worlds
Dec 16, 2004, by Rob Dinerman; SquashTalk Independent News Service © 2004;

Quick & Crombie fall to Bhattacharya & Ghosal
Preston Quick and Jamie Crombie were finally stopped today in the semi-final round of the World Squash Doubles Championships in Chennai, India, at the hands of host-nation heroes Ritwik Bhattacharya and Saurav Ghosal, who ended the American hopes for a gold medal in an hour-plus 9-5 10-11
11-9 9-4 back-and-forth battle highlighted by aggressive battles for positioning, especially on the right wall between Quick and Ghosal, and those two pivotal mid-match overtime sessions.

Quick and Crombie, whose 8-9 11-10 9-7 9-6 quarter-final upset victory over Pakistanis Mansoor and Shahid Zaman was one of the more noteworthy results of the entire tournament, will now play for third-place tomorrow against the winner of the remaining men's semi-final between two Australian teams, namely David Palmer/Anthony Ricketts and Byron Davis/Cameron White. The event is being covered live on television, and there will no doubt be great excitement in tomorrow's final due to the presence of an Indian team.

Neither Quick, normally a left-wall player on the ISDA pro hardball doubles circuit who is playing the right wall in this event, nor Crombie had ever previously played the softball version of doubles, which is contested on a 32 ft. long by 25 ft. wide court with a 17-inch-high tin, and their performance throughout the week has been remarkable. The American women's entry of Latasha Khan and Louisa Hall had fared less well through the Pools, but they did manage to secure their first win today, a tiebreaker-in-the-fourth 9-6 3-9 9-3 11-9 nail-biter over South Africans Diana Argyll and Angelique Clifton-Parks, and they will play off for fifth place in their final match tomorrow.

The semi-finals of the women's main draw saw the Australian Grinham sisters, Rachael and Natalie, the recent British Open champion and World Open finalist respectively in singles, overwhelm Malaysians Tricia Chuah and Nicol David in three games, while in the all-New Zealand bottom-half semi Louise Crome and Lara Petera prevailed in much closer fashion (11-10 11-8 7-9 9-7) over Shelley Kitchen and Tamsyn Leevey. Interestingly Kitchen and Leevey are much higher ranked than Crome and Petera, which points up how important teamwork can be in this form of squash.

Rachael Grinham and Palmer are both also in the Mixed final, having collaborated successfully in a four-game semi over compatriots White and Dianne Desira. In fact three of the four Mixed semi-final teams are from Australia, though an all-Australian sister-vs-sister final was averted when Kiwis Kitchen and Glen Wilson won the remaining semi-final, albeit barely (9-6 7-9 3-9 9-7 11-10), at the expense of Natalie Grinham and Dan Jensen.

RESULTS: World Doubles Squash Championships, Chennai, India

Men's Doubles semi-finals:
[5/8] Byron Davis & Cameron White (AUS) bt [1] David Palmer & Anthony Ricketts (AUS)
9-4, 9-6, 4-9, 11-10 (99m)
[5/8] Ritwik Bhattacharya & Saurav Ghosal (IND) bt [5/8] Jamie Crombie & Preston Quick (USA)
9-5, 10-11, 11-9, 9-4 (65m)
5th - 8th place play-offs:
[5/8] Safeer Ullah Khan & Farrukh Zaman (PAK) bt Wai Hang Wong & Roger Ngan (HKG)
6-9, 9-7, 9-6, 11-8 (34m)
[3/4] Dan Jenson & Cameron Pilley (AUS) bt [3/4] Mansoor Zaman & Shahid Zaman (PAK)
9-7, 9-4, 9-11, 9-4 (30m)
9th-12th place play-offs:
Vikas Jangra & Harinder Pal Singh (IND) bt Paul Atkinson & Michael Tootill (RSA)
11-8, 11-9, 9-6 (36m)
Bala Murugan & A Parthiban (IND) bt Gaurav Nandrajog & Niraj Shirgaokar (IND)
w/o
13th-16th place play-offs:
Raymond Arnold & S Maniam (MAS) bt [2] Mohd Azlan Iskandar & Ong Beng Hee (MAS)
w/o
Naishadh Lalwani & Rushabh Vora (IND) bt Vivian Rhamanan & Mohd Rizal (SIN)
w/o

Women's Doubles semi-finals:
[1] Natalie Grinham & Rachael Grinham (AUS) bt [2] Tricia Chuah & Nicol David (MAS)
9-4, 9-5, 9-4 (21m)
[5/8] Louise Crome & Lara Petera (NZL) bt [3/4] Shelley Kitchen & Tamsyn Leevey (NZL)
11-10, 11-8, 7-9, 9-7 (66m)
5th - 8th place play-offs:
[3/4] Heidi Mather & Amelia Pittock (AUS) bt [5/8] Kasey Brown & Melissa Martin (AUS)
3-9, 8-11, 9-2, 9-7, 9-1 (41m)
[5/8] Louisa Hall & Latasha Khan (USA) bt [5/8] Diana Argyll & Angelique Clifton-Parks (RSA)
9-6, 3-9, 9-3, 11-9 (28m)

Mixed Doubles semi-finals:
[1] Rachael Grinham & David Palmer (AUS) bt [5/8] Dianne Desira & Cameron White (AUS)
9-5, 9-3, 9-8 (43m)
[2] Shelley Kitchen & Glen Wilson (NZL) bt [3/4] Natalie Grinham & Dan Jenson (AUS)
9-6, 7-9, 3-9, 9-7, 11-10 (72m)
5th - 8th place play-offs:
Rebecca Chiu & Faheem Khan (HKG) bt Joshna Chinappa & Saurav Ghosal (IND)
w/o
Lara Petera & Callum O'Brien (NZL) bt [5/8] Tricia Chuah & Mohd Azlan Iskandar (MAS)
w/o
9th-12th place play-offs:
Angelique Clifton-Parks & Michael Tootill (RSA) bt Nicol David & Ong Beg Hee (MAS)
w/o
Diana Argyll & Paul Atkinson (RSA) bt [5/8] Latasha Khan & Jamie Crombie (USA)
w/o

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