India & New Zealand In Surprise Gold Medal Bids In Chennai

New Zealand and hosts India pulled off significant upsets in today's semi-finals of the World Doubles Championships in Chennai to challenge Australia for the gold medals in the Women's and Men's finals, respectively, on Friday.

Louise Crome and Lara Petera, seeded in the 5/8 group, took 66 minutes to outwit higher-seeded fellow New Zealanders Shelley Kitchen and Tamsyn Leevey 11-10 11-8 7-9 9-7 in the first day of knockout action in the women's event. Crome and Petera, both from Auckland, will now face the top-seeded Australian pairing of Natalie and Rachael Grinham, the Queensland sisters from Toowoomba, who quickly despatched Malaysia's second seeds Tricia Chuah and Nicol David 9-4 9-5 9-4 in the other semi-final in just 21 minutes.

It was the battle between the two unexpected Men's semi-finalists, however, which was gripping the local crowds at the ICL-TNSRA courts in Chennai. India's Ritwik Bhattacharya and Saurav Ghosal, who upset the higher-seeded Australians Dan Jenson and Cameron Pilley in the quarter-finals, were facing fellow 5/8 seeds Jamie Crombie and Preston Quick, an experienced doubles pairing from the USA.

It was a close-fought affair which lasted 65 minutes - but it was Bhattacharya and Ghosal, the country's senior and junior national champions, respectively, who emerged victorious in a 9-5 10-11 11-9 9-4 scoreline.

"Saurav was fantastic, out of his mind," Bhattacharya told www.squashsite.co.uk afterwards. "I wasn't on fire, and eventually they realised that and started playing on the forehand, so Saurav had to compensate for me, which he did brilliantly."

Ghosal, 18, the reigning British Junior Open champion from Chennai, conceded: "That was one of my best performances ever!"

The final match of the day saw the first demise of a top-seeded pairing in the event when David Palmer and Anthony Ricketts, ranked 4 and 14 respectively in the world, crashed out to fellow Australians Byron Davis and Cameron White. After losing the first two games, the favourites reduced the deficit in the third after demanding that the ball be changed.

The advantage swung from one pair to the other in the fourth game - in which Palmer received a conduct warning for racket abuse - until Davis and White celebrated victory after 99 minutes with the score standing at 9-4 9-6 4-9 11-10.

Fortunes were reversed earlier when Palmer and White faced each other in the Mixed Doubles semi-finals. Palmer and Rachael Grinham, the top seeds, beat White and Dianne Desira, 5/8 seeds, 9-5 9-3 9-8 in 43 minutes to set up the predicted meeting with New Zealand's No2 seeds Shelley Kitchen and Glen Wilson. However, their opponents Natalie Grinham and Dan Jenson, the 3/4 seeds from Australia, led 2/1 and were a single point away from victory before the New Zealanders took their place in the final with a 9-6 7-9 3-9 9-7 11-10 victory in 72 minutes.

Men's Doubles semi-finals:
[5/8] Byron Davis & Cameron White (AUS) bt [1] David Palmer & Anthony Ricketts (AUS)
9-4, 9-6, 4-9, 11-10 (99m)
[5/8] Ritwik Bhattacharya & Saurav Ghosal (IND) bt [5/8] Jamie Crombie & Preston Quick (USA)
9-5, 10-11, 11-9, 9-4 (65m)
5th - 8th place play-offs:
[5/8] Safeer Ullah Khan & Farrukh Zaman (PAK) bt Wai Hang Wong & Roger Ngan (HKG)
6-9, 9-7, 9-6, 11-8 (34m)
[3/4] Dan Jenson & Cameron Pilley (AUS) bt [3/4] Mansoor Zaman & Shahid Zaman (PAK)
9-7, 9-4, 9-11, 9-4 (30m)
9th-12th place play-offs:
Vikas Jangra & Harinder Pal Singh (IND) bt Paul Atkinson & Michael Tootill (RSA)
11-8, 11-9, 9-6 (36m)
Bala Murugan & A Parthiban (IND) bt Gaurav Nandrajog & Niraj Shirgaokar (IND)
w/o
13th-16th place play-offs:
Raymond Arnold & S Maniam (MAS) bt [2] Mohd Azlan Iskandar & Ong Beng Hee (MAS)
w/o
Naishadh Lalwani & Rushabh Vora (IND) bt Vivian Rhamanan & Mohd Rizal (SIN)
w/o

Women's Doubles semi-finals:
[1] Natalie Grinham & Rachael Grinham (AUS) bt [2] Tricia Chuah & Nicol David (MAS)
9-4, 9-5, 9-4 (21m)
[5/8] Louise Crome & Lara Petera (NZL) bt [3/4] Shelley Kitchen & Tamsyn Leevey (NZL)
11-10, 11-8, 7-9, 9-7 (66m)
5th - 8th place play-offs:
[3/4] Heidi Mather & Amelia Pittock (AUS) bt [5/8] Kasey Brown & Melissa Martin (AUS)
3-9, 8-11, 9-2, 9-7, 9-1 (41m)
[5/8] Louisa Hall & Latasha Khan (USA) bt [5/8] Diana Argyll & Angelique Clifton-Parks (RSA)
9-6, 3-9, 9-3, 11-9 (28m)

Mixed Doubles semi-finals:
[1] Rachael Grinham & David Palmer (AUS) bt [5/8] Dianne Desira & Cameron White (AUS)
9-5, 9-3, 9-8 (43m)
[2] Shelley Kitchen & Glen Wilson (NZL) bt [3/4] Natalie Grinham & Dan Jenson (AUS)
9-6, 7-9, 3-9, 9-7, 11-10 (72m)
5th - 8th place play-offs:
Rebecca Chiu & Faheem Khan (HKG) bt Joshna Chinappa & Saurav Ghosal (IND)
w/o
Lara Petera & Callum O'Brien (NZL) bt [5/8] Tricia Chuah & Mohd Azlan Iskandar (MAS)
w/o
9th-12th place play-offs:
Angelique Clifton-Parks & Michael Tootill (RSA) bt Nicol David & Ong Beg Hee (MAS)
w/o
Diana Argyll & Paul Atkinson (RSA) bt [5/8] Latasha Khan & Jamie Crombie (USA)
w/o