New Zealand Teams Seeded High In Commonwealth Doubles Draws

New Zealand teams have top seedings in two of the three doubles categories for squash for the upcoming Gold Coast Commonwealth Games.

The official draw for men’s and women’s doubles and mixed were completed last night and have a distinct Kiwi look to them. The events will take place at Oxenford Studios in Gold Coast, from 10-15 April, immediately following the two singles championships from 5-9 April.

Kiwi’s Joelle King (Waikato) and Amanda Landers-Murphy (Rotorua) are top seeds in women’s doubles after they won in last August's WSF World Doubles Championships and the previous year’s tournament as well.

King, 29 who is the current world No.7 in singles also teams up with men’s No.11 Paul Coll as top seeds and favourites in the mixed doubles.

King was the hero for the New Zealand squash team in the 2010 Games in Delhi where she was a double doubles medallist - winning gold in the women's singles and bronze in the mixed.

The mixed draw also features Landers-Murphy and Zac Millar (Wellington) as 10th seeds

In the men’s doubles Coll and Campbell Grayson are the third seeds on the back of their bronze medal at the world doubles champs last year. They head Pool C in what is a solid competition with an Australian pair as top seeds and Scots seeded second.

Also in the men’s doubles is the ninth seeded Kiwi pair of Lance Beddoes (Auckland) and Evan Williams (Rotorua) who are in Pool H along with the eighth seeds from Malaysia.

Following the qualifying action in Pools, the top two pairs in each Pool will progress to the knockout stages - last 16 rounds for the Men's and Mixed Doubles, and quarter-finals for the Women.

Men's Doubles Pools line-up:

Pool A - [1] Ryan Cuskelly & Cameron Pilley (AUS), [16] Mandela Patrick & Kale Wilson (TTO), Sailesh Pala & Romit Parshottam (FIJ)

Pool B - [2] Alan Clyne & Greg Lobban (SCO), [15] Jason-Ray Khalil & Sunil Seth (GUY), Manda Chilambwe & Kelvin Ndhlovu (ZAM)

Pool C - [3] Paul Coll & Campbell Grayson (NZL), [14] Bradley Hindle & Daniel Zammit-Lewis (MLT), Jason Doyle & Jules Snagg (SVG)

Pool D - [4] Declan James & James Willstrop (ENG), [13] Tayyab Aslam & Farhan Zaman (PAK), Joseph Chapman & Neville Sorrentino (BVI)

Pool E - [5] Zac Alexander & David Palmer (AUS), [12] Christopher Binnie & Lewis Walters (JAM), Alexander Frazer & Jacob Kelly (CAY)

Pool F - [6] Peter Creed & Joel Makin (WAL), [11] Vikram Malhotra & Ramit Tandon (IND), Ernest Jombla & Yusif Mansaray (SLE)

Pool G - [7] Daryl Selby & Adrian Waller (ENG), [10] Mohammad Syafiq Kamal & Eain Yow Ng (MAS), Michael Kawooya & Ian Rukunya (UGA)

Pool H - [8] Nafiizwan Adnan & Ivan Yuen (MAS), [9] Lance Beddoes & Evan Williams (NZL), Othneil Bailey & Omari Wilson (VIN)

Women's Doubles Pools line-up:

Pool A - [1] Joelle King & Amanda Landers-Murphy (NZL), [8] Sarah Cardwell & Christine Nunn (AUS), [9] Rachel Arnold & Sivasangari Subramaniam (MAS)

Pool B - [2] Jenny Duncalf & Alison Waters (ENG), [7] Laura Massaro & Sarah-Jane Perry (ENG), [10] Lisa Aitken & Alison Thomson (SCO), Eilidh Bridgeman & Caroline Laing (CAY)

Pool C - [3] Joshna Chinappa & Dipika Pallikal Karthik (IND), [6] Tesni Evans & Deon Saffery (WAL), [11] Faiza Zafar & Madina Zafar (PAK), Dianne Kellas & Colette Sultana (MLT)

Pool D - [4] Rachael Grinham & Donna Urquhart (AUS), [5] Samantha Cornett & Nikki Todd (CAN), [12] Samantha Hennings & Marlene West (CAY), Taylor Fernandes & Mary Fung-A-Fat (GUY)

Mixed Doubles Pools line-up:

Pool A - [1] Joelle King & Paul Coll (NZL), [16] Dianne Kellas & Bradley Hindle (MLT), Lynette Vai & Madako Junior Suari (PNG)

Pool B - [2] Alison Waters & Daryl Selby (ENG), [15] Meagan Best & Shawn Simpson (BAR), Alison Mua & Stephen Henry (FIJ)

Pool C - [3] Tesni Evans & Peter Creed (WAL), [14] Marlene West & Cameron Stafford (CAY), Elizabeth Mulwa & James Dalidi (KEN)

Pool D - [4] Donna Urquhart & Cameron Pilley (AUS), [13] Faiza Zafar & Farhan Zaman (PAK), Taylor Fernandes & Sunil Seth (GUY)

Pool E - [5] Dipika Pallikal Karthik & Saurav Ghosal (IND), [12] Madina Zafar & Tayyab Aslam (PAK), Mary Fung-A-Fat & Jason-Ray Khalil (GUY)

Pool F - [6] Rachael Grinham & Ryan Cuskelly (AUS), [11] Aifa Azman & Sanjay Singh Chal (MAS), Charlotte Knaggs & Kale Wilson (TTO)

Pool G - [7] Jenny Duncalf & Adrian Waller (ENG), [10] Amanda Landers-Murphy & Zac Millar (NZL), Colette Sultana & Daniel Zammit-Lewis (MLT)

Pool H - [8] Joshna Chinappa & Harinder Pal Sandhu (IND), [9] Lisa Aitken & Kevin Moran (SCO), Caroline Laing & Jacob Kelly (CAY)