King Crowned Double Doubles World Champion In Darwin

Success in two of today's finals in the WSF World Doubles Squash Championships in Australia has led New Zealand's Joelle King to become the first player to win two gold medals in the same championships since 2004.

New Zealand kicked off the afternoon with a win in the women's doubles as Joelle King & Amanda Landers-Murphy comprehensively defeated the Australian pair of Rachael Grinham & Donna Urquhart in two games. Joelle King is ranked in the top 15 in the world but it was Landers-Murphy who was the star of the match with multiple winners, dominating the left side of the court. New Zealand outmuscled the Aussies in the first game and kept the momentum through to the second eventually winning 11-7, 11-4 in just 20 minutes. The Kiwi girls remained unbeaten throughout the tournament after topping Pool B.

Joelle King's night got even better as she and Paul Coll defeated Indian pair Saurav Ghosal & Dipika Pallikal in the mixed doubles final. The Indians were considered slight favourites going into the decider but the Kiwis were too strong winning 11-8, 11-8 in 34 minutes. 

Australia failed to come away with a gold medal for the tournament and in the men's doubles Zac Alexander & David Palmer went down to Scottish pair Alan Clyne & Greg Lobban. Australia kept with the Scots for the most part of the first game before Palmer suffered a back injury and was forced to call for a medical time out. Palmer returned to fight on but was clearly hampered and the Scots pounced, closing out the match 11-8, 11-4 in 33 minutes.

It capped off a wonderful week in Darwin and showed why doubles squash is so popular as the Darwin Squash Centre welcomed large crowds throughout the tournament.

WSF World Doubles - Day 4

Women's Doubles – Final

[3] J.King & A.Landers-Murphy (NZL) def [2] R.Grinham & D.Urquhart (AUS) 11-7, 11-4 (20 mins)

Mixed Doubles - Final 

[3] P.Coll & J.King (NZL) def [2] S.Ghosal & D.Pallikal (IND) 11-8, 11-8 (34 mins)

Men's Doubles – Final

[2] A.Clyne & G.Lobban (SCO) def [4] Z.Alexander & D.Palmer (AUS) 11-8, 11-4 (33 mins)

Results – Semi-Final: Women’s World Doubles Championship 2016

[2] Rachael Grinham & Donna Urquhart (AUS) bt [1] Joshna Chinappa & Dipika Pallikal Karthik (IND) 2-0: 11-5, 11-10 (29m)

[3] Joelle King & Amanda Landers-Murphy (NZL) bt [4] Delia Arnold & Rachel Arnold (MAS) 2-0: 11-5, 11-3 (16m)

Results – Semi-Final: Mixed World Doubles Championship 2016

[3] Paul Coll & Joelle King (NZL) bt [4] David Palmer and Donna Urquhart (AUS) 2-0: 11-9, 11-7 (36m)

[2] Saurav Ghosal & Dipika Pallikal Karthik (IND) bt [5] Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu & Joshna Chinappa (IND)

Results – Semi-Final: Men’s World Doubles Championship 2016

[2] Alan Clyne & Greg Lobban (SCO) bt [1] Ryan Cuskelly & Cameron Pilley (AUS) 2-1: 11-9, 7-11, 11-7 (73m)

[4] David Palmer & Zac Alexander (AUS) bt [3] Paul Coll & Campbell Grayson (NZL) 2-1: 11-9, 7-11, 11-6 (65m)