Joelle King

Lucy Turmel might have seen her run in the Commonwealth squash singles ended, but she certainly earned the respect of defending champion Joelle King…

It was on the BBC, it’s huge for squash and I think that me and Joelle put on a good show for everyone so that’s the most important. “My family are all here watching today, it was a huge moment for me. I’m on there to win and that didn’t happen obviously, but I feel like it was a good match for everyone watching. The biggest thing for me is that I found out a bit about myself. I spoke to my coach before the match and he said that if Joelle is going to win, she’s going to win, you’re not going to lose. “I don’t ever give up, that’s something that I pride myself on.

Two from two for New Zealand squash players in the singles quarter-finals at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games, but in very different circumstances.

A beautiful mind crunching all the player stats. You need journalists close enough to smell the liniment. Their semifinal takes place at 3.45am Wednesday (NZ time).

Joelle King is through to the Commonwealth Games women's squash semifinals, but was pushed every inch of the way by Englishwoman Lucy Turmel in a marathon ...

Turmel dug in and levelled the scores, with both players hold multiple game points before King prevailed 18-16. King won double gold at the 2018 Games, in singles and then doubles with Amanda Landers-Murphy, and is contesting her fourth Commonwealth Games. Joelle King is through to the Commonwealth Games women's squash semifinals, but was pushed every inch of the way by Englishwoman Lucy Turmel in a marathon quarterfinal.

The Kiwi squash star went down 3-1 in her semi-final against World No.20 Hollie Noughton from Canada.

After Ghosal gave his all in the first set but still went down, Coll took the momentum to assert his control in the second game before blowing out the result in final match. It comes after King ground out a 3-1 win yesterday in the quarterfinals in a match that lasted 85 minutes after multiple games went to tiebreaker. The New Zealand flagbearer entered the semifinal as the favourite to win it though, with the Kiwi ranked fifth in the world while Naughton is 20th.

A tearful Joelle King has been stunned in the semifinals of the women's squash singles, admitting she went "mentally walkabouts" during the match.

"She'll bounce back and I'm looking forward to playing with her in the mixed doubles. But Naughton continued to show touches of quality, particularly with her drop shots, and refused to let King go clear. "I felt like I was really in and out of zones, I could hear a lot of noise that was happening and things like that. "She's led our team from the front for over 10 years, winning medals left and right. "I think yesterday, probably emotionally and mentally, took a little bit more out of me than I would've liked," King said. Asked what had gone wrong after starting strongly, King began to explain before cutting short her post-match interview in tears.

New Zealand's joint-flagbearer was unable to defend her women's singles squash gold from 2018.

A beautiful mind crunching all the player stats. If quality local sport journalism is important to you, become a Stuff supporter today. You need journalists close enough to smell the liniment. “It was a pretty huge match and I just wasn't sharp enough out of the blocks today. Left-handed Naughton is ranked 15th places lower than King in the world at No.20 but showed few signs of the gap after King had shot out to a 4-1 lead in the third game, grabbing an 8-7 lead and taking a 2-1 lead when King was unable to overturn a no-let call when Naughton held game ball. The underdog proved too sharp after King took a tight first game, and was unstoppable at the end in her first career win over the New Zealander.

Hollie Naughton became the first Canadian woman to reach a Commonwealth Games final after the 5/8 seed stunned New Zealand's top seed and defending champion ...

The Englishman, however, made too many errors and Makin capitalised to force his way into the final with an 11-9 victory. Yesterday also saw the plate event, played between players knocked out earlier in the tournament, reach the final stage. Makin, meanwhile, is renowned for his movement and covered every inch of the court as he took a deserved lead with an 11-5 win. The Barnsley-born star looked quietly threatening in an 11-7 defeat in the first game and came out flying in the second, where she moved higher up the court and looked to volley whenever possible. I’ve really found my groove the past two matches. “The support has been unbelievable. I want to try and inspire that next generation to follow in my footsteps. The third game was an even one and at 8-8 could have gone either way. I think that if it had gone to a fifth I really would have struggled.” In a thrilling final game, Kennedy earned three match balls when she went 10-7 up. It’s exciting. “I hope I’m doing [my family and supporters] proud.

New Zealand flag bearer and squash hopeful Joelle King couldn't hide her anguish after falling in the semi-finals at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games.