As New Zealand has now moved into level 2 and the playing of Squash can resume, we have established an events timeline that will keep you up-to-date as decisions are being made – This can be found here: Squash NZ Events Timeline
Firstly, I hope that everyone is ok in lockdown and as much as possible, making the most of some quiet time in your bubbles. This update covers the following:
What Alert Levels 3 and 2 mean for clubs Club support toolkits Online club forums Affiliation fees
Check out Paul Coll and your other favourite sporting personalities as they take you through a number of challenges and pro-tips in the new YouTube series, Home Advantage, available on Sky Sport Next.
Due to the impacts of covid-19; including funding being frozen, travel restrictions and players unable to currently take the court, it is with regret that New Zealand Senior Teams, due to be held at Hutt City, Wellington on the 28th-30th August have been officially cancelled for 2020.
The call has also been made to postpone New Zealand Senior Individual Championships on the 26th – 28th June, due to be held at North Shore Squash Club. We aim to hold this event from August onwards and an update will be provided on this following further government announcements – travel will play a major factor in this decision as well as player training time.
Squash New Zealand has appointed 2 new board members who bring an exciting edge to our already established board members.
Unfortunate news for the squash world that due to the Coronavirus pandemic, the WSF (World Squash Federation) and Squash Australia have regretfully agreed to cancel the WSF World Junior Championships that had been scheduled to take place in July 2020 on the Gold Coast.
The Covid-19 epidemic has taken the world by storm, and squash has been no exception to that. While we aim to offer all the best squash opportunities and competitions, we are currently facing unprecedented times.
The COVID-19 epidemic continues to spread through New Zealand and has already put a halt on the majority of squash activity.
In line with the increasing preventative measures in response to Coronavirus (COVID-19) and our collective responsibility to the wider squash community, Squash New Zealand and the 11 squash districts have suspended all National and District run events/competitions/training squads until May 1st effective immediately. It is strongly advised that clubs follow this lead and suspend all club events and competitions until the same date May 1st effective immediately.
The global impact of the Coronavirus (Covid-19) is having a significant impact on people’s travel plans and the delivery of large sporting events. To this end, Squash NZ have been monitoring the developments daily, and we are taking advice from the Sporting Community, Government and the Ministry of Health regarding large gatherings.
Recently, all PSA World Tour and PSA Challenger Tour events have been suspended and the Oceania Junior Championships and Trans-Tasman Test Match series scheduled to occur in April, have been postponed until a later date (Earliest possible rescheduled date is December 2020)
With the number of Coronavirus cases increasing worldwide, and containment measures increasing Squash New Zealand recommends the following precautions in an effort to help keep the wider squash community safe.
After a remarkable comeback victory in his semifinal, Wellington squash player Evan Williams couldn’t continue his winning run in the final of the Barfoot & Thompson Auckland Squash Open at the North Shore Squash Club.
Williams, 30, had a scored a comeback from two sets and 1-7 down to win his semifinal over Tang Ming Hong (Hong Kong) but was beaten in straight games by Leung 11-2, 11-8, 1-4 for the PSA Challenger title at the North Shore Squash Club. The tournament second seed and New Zealand’s third ranked men’s player wasn’t allowed by his Hong Kong opponent and tournament top seed Henry Leung to get into the match, with Leung controlling the court and not giving Williams any free points making him work hard in every rally in front of the large crowd.
A strong team containing players from almost the full length of New Zealand has been confirmed for the Executive Travel New Zealand junior Trans-Tasman Squash Test Series.
The Barfoot and Thompson Summer Squash Series is bringing out some of the best in the sport from New Zealand and beyond.
In the two events so far there have now been four different title winners.
The first tournament of the Barfoot and Thompson Summer Series was completed at the Henderson Squash Club with mixed results for the Kiwi top seeds.
The NZ Secondary Schools Squash Association is looking for two motivated coaches to join the management team to travel to Brisbane in August 2020 for the annual Trans-Tasman Secondary Schools Competition.
The tournament to be held at the North Shore Squash Club 5-8 March is worth US$6,000 for the men’s tournament and a women’s Satellite will also be played at the same time.
We are looking for coaches to create a high-performance environment that is cohesive, inclusive, supports growth and produces athletes capable of learning and succeeding on the world stage as per the goals of the high-performance mission.
Entries are now open for the World Masters Championships.
Where: Devoy Squash and Fitness Centre
When: 24th – 26th April
Enter Here: https://squashnz.formstack.com/forms/nzjo
Werder had the flag passed to him at the recent tournement in Washinton DC, won by Egypt and where New Zealand finished fifth.
From left in photo; WSF CEO, William Louis-Marie, Wayne Werder, Anthony Lanier from Squash On Fire and far right WSF Vice President Peter Lasusa.
After the disappointment of losing their Pool match to Scotland which knocked them out of a semfinals place they then rattled off wins in their following contests including a win over Australia, Spain and finally Germany.
The Barfoot & Thompson PSA Summer Series will feature five squash tournaments around the upper North Island at Satellite and Challenger level.
Momen was appearing in back-to-back World Championship finals after falling to world No.1 Ali Farag in the previous tournament and displayed a masterclass of attacking squash saw him draw World No.5 Coll into the front of the court time and time again to power into a two-game lead.
The team has three players at their career high rankings with Paul Coll No.5 in the world, Campbell Grayson, 31 and Lwamba Chilese at 160. The fourth member of the team is Evan Williams from Wellington who is ranked 104.
The New Zealand Champions of Champions was held over the weekend at the Ohakune Squash Club! There were some massive matches and some very close battles in the finals. Thank you to everyone involved in the success of this event!
In the team challenge, Central came out on top!
The New Zealand Masters was a great success over the weekend with players from all across New Zealand and Australia competing for the title in their Age groups. Thank you to Midlands and Timaru Squash Club for all of the work they put into running this event.
Also congratulations to Kathryn McKay for winning the Rob Roche trophy for her service to Masters.
Squash New Zealand is looking to employ a full-time Communications & Support Manager to build the profile, inclusiveness of squash to current participants and new audiences throughout the country.
About the business
Coll, 27, made a winning start to the 2019/20 season last month as he defeated Welshman Joel Makin to capture the Open de France, Nantes 2019, his 14th PSA trophy.
The Greymouth player, known on tour as ‘Superman’ for his incredible feats of athleticism, rose one spot ahead of Germany’s Simon Rösner, who drops down to No.6.
We are looking for coaches to create a high-performance environment that is cohesive, inclusive, supports growth and produces athletes capable of learning and succeeding on the world stage as per the goals of the high-performance mission.
Coaches must demonstrate alignment to Squash New Zealand’s coaching attributes, core beliefs and the values of Haeta Poiatu.
The Kiwi ran out the winner in straight games, but it took over 70 minutes in typical ‘Superman’ fashion. In part, that came down to a mammoth first game, which lasted over 26 minutes. Coll took it on a tie-break to take the momentum into the rest of the match.
The second saw the World No.6 dominate his Welsh counterpart, restricting the ‘Golden Tiger’ to just three points, as he doubled his lead in the match. He then went out into a big lead in the fourth, holding a 9-4 advantage.
The theme for 2019 is for every club on the planet to open their doors and hold a free taster session called The Big Hit.
From 1 January 2019 to 2 September 2019 there have been 963 confirmed cases of measles notified across New Zealand. 804 of these confirmed cases are in the Auckland region. Measles is highly contagious. Cases of measles are expected to rise in the foreseeable future, particularly in Auckland. Those not immunised against measles are at risk of contracting and spreading measles to others, particularly when gathering indoors, and/or for sports events, where athletes are in close contact with others, such as inside Squash Courts.
SNZ requests that anyone who is not yet immunised does not attend the forthcoming 2019 Junior National Championships unless they receive an MMR vaccination at least 2 weeks prior to the event i.e. by 19th September 2019.
Enter here: https://squashnz.formstack.com/forms/nz_juniornationals_entryform
New Zealand men’s squash No.2 Campbell Grayson has won the biggest title of his career with victory in the Houston Open in Texas today.
The 33-year-old from Auckland beat top seed and world No.20 Ryan Cuskelly (Australia) in five games in the semifinals and then won the title in four games over Scotsman, Alan Clyne in the final.
Gabe Yam scored another good win. This time over Sharif Hamzar (Pakistan) 6-11, 12-10, 11-4, 11-9 in 36 minutes to win the Plate.
It took Elijah Thomas over an hour to win yesterday and today his match lasted one hour and three minutes as he defeated Myles McIntrye (United States) 8-11, 14-12, 10-12, 11-2, 11-4 to win his section.
Check the description in the document attached.
It's Action Time At World Juniors with a busy schedule on the cards for Kiwi players.
Defending champions Egypt are likely to be favourites for the 2019 WSF Men's World Team Squash Championship title in December when the USA hosts the biennial World Squash Federation event for the first time in its 52-year history in Washington DC.
23 nations will compete in the 26th edition of the championship which will be held, under the auspices of US Squash, at Squash On Fire, the new state-of-the-art membership-free eight-court facility in the U.S. capital from 15-21 December.
The New Zealand junior squash team departs shortly to compete in the 2019 WSF World Junior Squash Championships at Kuala Lumpur, July 30 – 9 August.
We'll give you ways on how to send your support to the team on our SquashNZ facebook site and other ways of contacting the team as they go up against the best in the world.
The New Zealand Masters team has been confirmed for the Test series with Australia in Timaru in October, followed by the NZ Masters tournament starting all at the Timaru Squash Club.
The team is made up of a core of previous representatives and a few first timers too, who continue to play at the highest level in their respective age groups.
Paul Coll and Joelle King continued their domination of New Zealand Squash after winning their respective national titles for yet another year
For King it was her eighth national title as she defeated second seed Amanda Landers-Murphy from Rotorua 11-2, 11-4, 11-6, not that she knew how many titles she had won.
A standout win for Wellington squash pro, Evan Williams at the US$11,000 Southern PSA Challenger Tournament in Invercargill with a straight game victory over the top seed.
Two tough finals, but no titles for New Zealanders at the Inspirenet PSA Squash Classic Challenger tournaments at Palmerston North’s SquashGym over the weekend,
In the US$5,5000 women’s draw, Waikato’s Emma Millar did almost everything possible to win her final against top seed and world 90, Win Li Lai (Malaysia)
The match taking 42 minutes for Lai to win 11-9, 5-11, 11-4, 8-11, 11-8 after a good forehand volley winner to move to match point and then an error from Millar to seal the title.
It was the first career title for the Malaysian and leaves Millar still aiming for her first PSA tournament title.
On her way to the final Millar aged 27 and ranked 135 had two good victories over Kiwi rivals with success over Abbie Palmer and Kaitlyn Watts.
In the men’s US$11,000 draw Kiwi No.3 Evan Williams once again showed his consistency to make his way through a draw, but found himself beaten for a title; his sixth final since the beginning of 2018.
On this occasion Williams, the tournament second seed ranked 104 in the world was defeated by top seed Rex Hedrick (Australia) with a ranking of 68.
Hedrick won the entertaining final in Palmerston North in 60 minutes 7-11, 11-6, 12-10, 11-7 with Williams, a member of the 2018 Commonwealth Games team coming incredibly close to taking the third game in particularly. However a couple of tight shots went the way of the Aussie at vital stages to help him win the game and then eventually take the match. The next tournament is the ILT and Community Trust Southern Open 19-23 June US$11,000 men’s Challenger tournament.
A difficult loss for Kiwi squash player, Joelle King in the first game of the PSA World Tour Finals in Cairo, Egypt.
King seeded fifth for the top-eight player tournament was defeated in 55 minutes by the fourth seed, Camille Serme from France in a match which had both players fighting for every shot.
The Waikato 30-year-old took the first game against Serme 14-12 in a game which took a staggering 20 minutes, however in the second it was the Frenchwoman who showed resolve to win 12-10.
In the best-of-three game tournament for Pool play the final game had a great start for the Kiwi who initially led 4-0. However Serme didn’t just gain one point back, she produced several deep shots to move ahead 5-4, then 6-4 before King even got a look in.
A let call in favour of the Kiwi followed by some more focussed play had King force her way back and then start stretching the lead until she eventually had a match point at 10-8. But it was not to be as Serme won three points in a row and then the winning point pushing King into the backhand corner and the error. The overall score 14-12, 10-12, 10-12 to Serme. King’s next Pool match will tomorrow (Tuesday) morning against feisty Welshwoman, Tesni Evans the eighth seed. Men’s tournament fifth seed, Paul Coll faces fourth seed Karim Abdel Gawad (Egypt) in his first match tomorrow morning at approximately 5.30am NZT. They are 2-2 in head-to-head contests.
Registration is OPEN for the sixteenth Anchor AIMS Games International Sporting Championships - set to take place in Tauranga, New Zealand from 9 – 12 September 2019
Barfoot and Thompson Senior Nationals (28th - 30th June) is open to all grades and is held at the National Squash Centre, Auckland. Entries close on Monday 4th June!
After an exceptional 2018/2019 season we are pleased to announce that Joelle King (WR 4) and Paul Coll (WR 7) will be returning to play the New Zealand Senior Nationals. Joelle will be returning after the World Series final in Dubai which features the top 8 players. Paul is also on his way to gaining a spot in this series.
Our Senior Nationals also features 2018 Gold Medallist Amanda Landers-Murphy and New Zealand Number 2 and Commonwealth games representative; Campbell Grayson.
To best accommodate our players the date of the Senior Nationals has changed to the 28th – 30th June
We look forward to showcasing our commonwealth games champions at the National Squash Centre where they will be playing against our established and emerging professionals.
So close, but so far for Kiwi squash pro, Paul Coll in the semifinals of the British Squash Open against world No.1 Ali Farag of Egypt.
A strong New Zealand junior squash team has been selected to compete in the 2019 WSF World Junior Squash Championships at Kuala Lumpur, July 30 – 9 August this year.
A win and a loss for the two Kiwis in the quarter-finals of the prestigious British Squash Open in Hull this morning.
Two New Zealand players have confirmed their places in the quarter-finals of the prestigious British Squash Open after wins this morning.
A mixed day for the three New Zealand players competing in the second round of the British Squash Open in Hull.
A win and a loss for New Zealand players on day one of the British Squash Open in Hull.
A top win for Kiwi squash pro, Joelle King as she dismantled her Welsh opponent, world No.9 Tesni Evans in the final of the inaugural PSA Manchester Open this morning.
New Zealand’s world No.5 Joelle King has booked her place in the final of the inaugural Manchester Open after she defeated American, Amanda Sobhy in straight-games at the British National Squash Centre.
Former professional Glen Wilson has been appointed the Squash NZ 2019 World Men’s team coach and National HP Squad coach.
A successful couple of weeks for Belmont Park’s Gabe Yam who won his third title, this time the AON New Zealand Junior Squash Open at the Devoy Squash and Fitness Centre in Tauranga
Another satisfying win has seen Kiwi squash pro, Joelle King progress to the semifinals at the PSA Silver Manchester Open.
New Zealand men’s squash No.2 Campbell Grayson has won the PSA Challenger tournament, the Irish Squash Open in Dublin.
The prestigious AON New Zealand Junior Squash Open takes places over the next three days in Tauranga and it’s bringing close to 200 competitors, coaches and officials to the city.
More wins for Kiwi squash duo as the build up to next month’s prestigious British Open continues.
Both Kiwi No.2 ranked players, Amanda Landers-Murphy and Campbell Grayson have reached the semifinals of their respective draws at the PSA Challenger tournament, the Irish Squash Open in Dublin.
Rotorua’s Landers-Murphy beat Enora Villard of France 8-11, 11-7, 11-9, 11-4 in her quarter-final and will now take on Nele Gilles of Belgium who is known very well to New Zealand audiences having played an exhibition series around the country over the summer.
Giles is ranked 29th in the world while Landers-Murphy is 41st. They have played on three previous occasion with the Belgian leading 2-1 in head-to-heads. Their last match was two years ago at the same tournament and a five set win to Giles.
Auckland’s Grayson accounted for England’s Richie Fallows in his quarter-final 11-6, 9-11, 11-8, 11-6 and will now play either a Czech or an Egyptian for a place in the final.
A tough day for Kiwi squash players Joelle King and Paul Coll at the PSA Platinum tournament at El Gouna, Egypt.
The rising stars of New Zealand squash have shown further improvement over their rivals in Australia by winning three titles at the Australian Open Junior Championships at Thornleigh, New South Wales today.
