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Sunday, 26 March 2006, 06:12 GMT 07:12 UK

Nicol & Beachill win doubles gold

Lee Beachill and Peter Nicol England's Peter Nicol and Lee Beachill retained their Commonwealth men's squash doubles title after an epic battle in Melbourne on Sunday.

They beat Australians Stewart Boswell and Anthony Ricketts 7-9 9-7 9-1 10-8 in a repeat of the 2002 final.

England team-mates James Willstrop and Vicky Botwright claimed mixed doubles silver against the Australian duo of Joseph Kneipp and Natalie Grinham.

And Botwright then added a bronze to her collection in the women's doubles.


Singles champion Nicol, who won the Commonwealth gold representing Scotland in 1998, and Yorkshireman Beachill dropped four match points on their way to a tense final game win.

The Australians prevailed in a tightly-fought first game 9-7 but their opponents hit back to draw level in the second by the same scoreline.

"I've won two medals but never two golds. Now I have"
Peter Nicol

Nicol and Beachill cruised home in the third game before taking a fiercly-contested fourth 10-8.

After a gruelling two hours 40 minutes on court, Nicol was exhausted but overjoyed to cap his retirement year with a brace of golds.

"It's wonderful to win, absolutely wonderful," he said.

"I've never won two golds in a championship before, I've won two medals but never two golds. Now I have.

"The thing about that is it's a tough, tough game to play but the reason we won is because we enjoy playing together."

James Willstrop and Vicky Botwright

Willstrop, 22, from Pontefract and 28-year-old Botwright, went ahead in their final against Kneipp and Grinham but were eventually beaten 6-9 9-6 9-5 9-6.

"In the end they made very few errors they just kept plugging away at us."

"We were very disappointed not to win the gold. We gave it everything we could but they were just better," Willstrop said.

Botright teamed up with Tania Bailey to see off New Zealanders Louise Crome and Lara Petera 10-8 4-9 9-4 9-6 after a lengthy contest.



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