Australia Celebrates Triple Gold In Chennai

Australia swept to triple gold success in the World Doubles Championships in Chennai, India, today - while Rachael Grinham, the world No1 from Queensland (pictured), became the first player to claim two gold medals in the history of the championships.

Grinham arrived in the former city of Madras as favourite for two of the titles - the Women's Doubles with her younger sister Natalie Grinham, ranked five in the world, and in the Mixed Doubles with fellow British Open champion David Palmer, the world No4 from Lithgow in New South Wales.

The 27-year-old from Toowoomba did not disappoint. In the first final of the day with Palmer, the pair was fully extended by the second-seeded New Zealand duo Shelley Kitchen and Glen Wilson before winning 11-8 9-8 9-8 in 45 minutes. The Australians' joy was contrasted by the disappointment of the Kiwi pair, whose Glen Wilson was a gold medallist (with the now-retired Leilani Rorani) in the same event in the 2002 Commonwealth Games in England.

Rachael, based in Cairo, next took to the court with her Netherlands-based sister to face surprise opponents Louise Crome and Lara Petera, the 5/8 seeds, also from New Zealand, in the Women's final. It took just 29 minutes for Rachael to taste gold for the second time in the day when she and Natalie triumphed 9-7 9-4 9-2 - maintaining a 'clean sheet' of no games lost throughout the tournament.

A surprise was inevitable in the Men's Doubles final where 5/8 seed Byron Davis and Cameron White, the unfancied Australian pair who yesterday shocked top-seeded compatriots David Palmer and Anthony Ricketts, took on fellow 5/8 seeds Ritwik Bhattacharya and Saurav Ghosal, the pair who raised local hopes by becoming the first Indians ever to reach a world squash final.

The final befitted the climax to the five-day festival of squash at the new ICL-TNSRA centre in Chennai. The battle lasted 73 minutes - the longest of the day - but much to the dismay of the packed and partisan crowd, there was no fairytale ending as Davis and White, from Adelaide and Melbourne respectively, clinched a 9-4 9-3 8-9 9-7 victory to secure an Australian hat-trick.

Men's Doubles final:
[5/8] Byron Davis & Cameron White (AUS) bt [5/8] Ritwik Bhattacharya & Saurav Ghosal (IND)
9-4, 9-3, 8-9, 9-7 (73m)
3rd place play-off:
[1] David Palmer & Anthony Ricketts (AUS) bt [5/8] Jamie Crombie & Preston Quick (USA)
11-9, 7-9, 9-4, 9-5 (40m)
5th place play-off:
[3/4] Dan Jenson & Cameron Pilley (AUS) bt [5/8] Safeerullah Khan & Farrukh Zaman (PAK)
9-6, 7-9, 9-11, 9-7, 9-2 (62m)
7th place play-off:
[3/4] Mansoor Zaman & Shahid Zaman (PAK) bt Wai Hang Wong & Roger Ngan (HKG)
9-3, 7-9, 9-7, 9-3 (32m)
9th place play-off:
Vikas Jangra & Harinder Pal Singh (IND) bt Bala Murugan & A Parthiban (IND)
9-7, 9-3, 9-2 (30m)
11th place play-off:
Paul Atkinson & Michael Tootill (RSA) bt Gaurav Nandrajog & Niraj Shirgaokar (IND)
w/o
13th place play-off:
Raymond Arnold & S Maniam (MAS) bt Naishadh Lalwani & Rushabh Vora (IND)
w/o
15th place play-off:
[2] Mohd Azlan Iskandar & Ong Beng Hee (MAS) bt Vivian Rhamanan & Mohd Rizal (SIN)
w/o

Women's Doubles final:
[1] Natalie Grinham & Rachael Grinham (AUS) bt [5/8] Louise Crome & Lara Petera (NZL)
9-7, 9-4, 9-2 (29m)
3rd place play-off:
[3/4] Shelley Kitchen & Tamsyn Leevey (NZL) bt [2] Tricia Chuah & Nicol David (MAS)
9-7, 9-5, 9-6 (25m)
5th place play-off:
[3/4] Heidi Mather & Amelia Pittock (AUS) bt [5/8] Louisa Hall & Latasha Khan (USA)
9-2, 11-9, 9-1 (18m)
7th place play-off:
[5/8] Diana Argyll & Angelique Clifton-Parks (RSA) bt [5/8] Kasey Brown & Melissa Martin (AUS)
9-3, 6-9, 9-4, 9-4 (20m)

Mixed Doubles final:
[1] Rachael Grinham & David Palmer (AUS) bt [2] Shelley Kitchen & Glen Wilson (NZL)
11-8, 9-8, 9-8 (45m)
3rd place play-off:
[3/4] Natalie Grinham & Dan Jenson (AUS) bt [5/8] Dianne Desira & Cameron White (AUS)
9-3, 9-3, 9-2 (35m)
5th place play-off:
Rebecca Chiu & Faheem Khan (HKG) bt Lara Petera & Callum O'Brien (NZL)
11-10, 9-1, 7-9, 9-7 (57m)
7th place play-off:
Joshna Chinappa & Saurav Ghosal (IND) bt [5/8] Tricia Chuah & Mohd Azlan Iskandar (MAS)
w/o
9th place play-off:
Angelique Clifton-Parks & Michael Tootill (RSA) bt Diana Argyll & Paul Atkinson (RSA)
9-4, 9-2, 9-3 (15m)
11th place play-off:
[5/8] Latasha Khan & Jamie Crombie (USA) bt Nicol David & Ong Beng Hee (MAS)
w/o