WORLD DOUBLES CHAMPS HUMBLED

WORLD DOUBLES CHAMPS HUMBLED

By Zabidi Osman/Zaiful Mohd Ariffin

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 19 (Bernama) -- World squash doubles champions, Chris Walker/Mark Cairns of England were beaten by Australia's Rodney Eyles/Byron Davis in the semifinal of the 16th Commonwealth Games men's squash doubles today.

The Australians shocked the top seeds 4-15, 15-12, 15-10 in a tense and thrilling encounter at the National Squash Complex in Bukit Jalil, here.

"They are a tough pair, we made numerous mistakes especially in the second and third games, giving away easy points," Walker said after the match.

After losing the first game, third seeded Eyles/Davis staged a fightback to win 15-12 in the second game.

The Aussie duo maintained their superiority in the decider to win 15-10 and booked their place in tomorrow's final match.

Eyles who crashed out in the men's singles competition said he was looking forward to bag Australia's second gold medal in squash after Michelle Martin won the women's singles.

"There is only one more hurdle for us to grab the gold and we are going to take it," he said.

Eyles/Davis will meet another English pair, fourth seeded Paul Johnson/Mark Chaloner in the final.

The English duo stopped Scotland's Peter Nicol/Stuart Cowie 15-10, 17-14 in the other semifinal encounter.

The Scottish pair just could not repeat their performance in yesterday's surprise quarterfinal victory over second seeds Jonathon Power/Graham Ryding of Canada.

"We just piled the pressure on them and gain points from their mistakes," Chaloner said after the match. On the final tomorrow, Chaloner said it will be a tight match.

"We saw how they played today and in order to win the match, we have to stop Eyles from doing his blocking tricks," "Eyles is a very experienced player and his partner Davis is playing very well at the moment," he said.

-- BERNAMA