Peter Nicol Aims For Third Successive Commonwealth Games Gold
England's Peter Nicol aims to take his third consecutive Commonwealth Games gold medal tomorrow (Monday) after claiming his place in the squash singles final for the third successive time. He will face Australia’s David Palmer at the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre in a battle for the title.
Getting into the final meant Londoner Nicol had to beat team-mate Nick Matthew (Sheffield) in an extremely close semi-final match that ended 3-9, 9-5, 9-4, 9-5.
Afterwards Nicol, who won silver in the singles event and gold in the doubles event in Manchester, said: “Nick knew he had to get off to a quick start because he had a tough match yesterday, and I think having won the first game he needed to take a step back a bit and just play it out because he was beating me.
“But he continued to play like that and I got a bit better and all of a sudden within about five or ten minutes there was a subtle change. After that I always knew I was going to win. I am just looking forward to the final now," added fourth seed Nicol, who won men's singles gold for Scotland at Kuala Lumpur in 1998.
This was the second all-England meeting for a disappointed Nick Matthew, who lost to James Willstrop yesterday in an equally-tough quarter-final. However, the 26-year-old insisted that the tough game yesterday was not to blame for his loss today.
“To use yesterday’s game as an excuse would be to the detriment of Peter,” he said. “He deserves everything he got. I thought I was on top but he kept coming back and in the end my legs didn’t stand up. But that was down to Peter and you can’t take that away from him.
“I have trained and watched him a lot very closely over the last few years and I don’t remember him playing as well as he did today. I threw everything I had at him, and I have been on top of my game recently. He was just incredible,” added the seventh seed.
Matthew is now facing an agonising third all-England clash in a row. In the play-off for the bronze medal he will play Lee Beachill, who failed to reach the final after losing to Australian David Palmer this evening.
Matthew said: “It will be massive task to pick myself up having lost as you are always a bit deflated, but Lee will be in the same boat as well. We just need to go out and get on with it.”
After loosing 0-9, 4-9, 4-9 to the Australian, a disappointed Beachill said: “David played very well tonight and everything I did he had an answer to. We have had some tough matches over the years and tonight was his night. I just didn’t play well enough.
“It’s not the end of the world. I had an operation at Christmas and I am just happy to be playing in the Commonwealth Games.”
“This is the first year that we have had to play-off for the bronze. I think it is very tough for a sport like squash. It will be quite hard to get up tomorrow but we are both pros and we will just get on with it.”