HEAD racquet rebels in squash and badminton made a winning impression at the Commonwealth Games in India, with Briton Adrian Grant leading the effort with his squash gold medal in the men's doubles. Grant teamed with compatriot Nick Matthew to win the event as they beat Australia's Stewart Boswell and David Palmer at the Siri Fort Sport Complex in New Delhi 11-9, 6-11, 11-5. The victory took more than two hours.
Joelle King of New Zealand earned a pair of medals in the same sport, claiming the women's doubles gold alongside countrywoman Jaclyn Haekes in a victory over Head’s Laura Massaro (silver medal) and Jenny Duncalf of England 11-10, 11-9 in one hour of play during the first match together for the winners.
The King-Haekes team was an “emergency” choice after injury to another player but the pick turned out to be a golden opportunity for the HEAD ace. King had just a few minutes to spare before going straight back onto court with 22-year-old Brit Martin Knight to lift the silver medal in mixed doubles, going down 8-11 11-7 11-5 to Australians Kasey Brown and Cameron Pilley.
King was delighted to have excelled for her nation. "Hopefully, New Zealand as a whole starts to believe it and gets behind me and the others a bit more. Squash hasn't had such a public profile lately, but hopefully being so successful at these Games does something to lift my profile and squash in general. I've always had my goals and I know where I want to go – to the medals - definitely give me confidence going forward. I'm stoked to come away with a gold and a silver in my first Commonwealth Games, hopefully there are many more to come."
In the bronze medal women's doubles play-off, top seeds Kasey Brown and Australian HEAD player Donna Urquhart of Australia beat fellow Aussies Amelia Pittock and Lisa Camilleri, the second seeds, 11-4, 10-11, 11-5. Urquhart and David Palmer missed out on a bronze in the mixed doubles with a loss to Malaysians Ong Beng Hee and Nicol David.
On the badminton court, 32-year-old Briton Anthony Clark handed HEAD more success, earning silver in doubles and bronze in the team competition. Clark and Nathan Robertson fell in the men's final to Malaysia's Kien Keat Koo and Boon Heong Tan 21-19, 21-14 winners. "We were right in that first game but a few points went against us and that was probably our chance gone," said the HEAD ace.