Coll into gold medal game, King beaten

7:49 am on 3 August 2022

New Zealander Paul Coll has marched relentlessly into the final of the men's squash tournament at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games, beating Saurav Ghosal of India in the semifinals.

New Zealand squash player Paul Coll.

Photo: PHOTOSPORT

Coll accounted for 35-year-old world No 15 Ghosal 11-9, 11-4, 11-1 in 43 minutes.

It was Coll at his best, working his way into the match for a close, but not too difficult first game and then dominating.

At 4-4 in the second game the New Zealander ranked No 2 in the world reeled off 16 points in a row until 9-0 in the third set where he dropped just one point before rounding out the match.

Coll will now face either world No 7 Joel Makin from Wales who beat England's defending champion James Willstrop in the other semi-final.

The men's final will be played at 4am NZT Thursday.

Meanwhile the women's semi featured King up against Canadian Hollie Naughton at her best.

The 20th ranked left-hander played some inspired squash and hit numerous winners later in the game to win 7-11, 11-3, 11-8, 11-1 in 35 minutes.

A day after her epic four game quarter-final victory King won the first game against Naughton and was looking solid as scores were 7-7 before she won the next four points in a row.

However as Naughton gained confidence so did her ability to control the point and pace to disrupt the New Zealanders power play.

Naughton, 27 and ranked 20th in the world raised her game as the match progressed to dominate the match despite a tussle and some hope in the third for King, again Naughton stuck to her plan and was comprehensive in the fourth game.

For King, 33 she will now face Sarah-Jane Perry of England for bronze on Thursday morning.