New Zealand squash player Joelle King has reached the world's
top 10 rankings.
King, who turns 23 today, went up one spot in the latest
WISPA rankings to No.10, a career first.
The last Kiwi to be ranked in the top 10 was Shelley Kitchen
in May 2009.
King played in the US$60,000 US Open first round today and
although she was beaten by world No.1 Nicol David (Malaysia)
she did take the first game 13-11 and was on court against
the undisputed top player in the world for 55 minutes. The
full score was 11-13, 11-8, 11-6, 11-5.
Squash New Zealand chief executive Jim O'Grady was full of
praise for King's achievement and believed her performance
and that of a number of other Kiwi players around the world
had given the sport a great boost.
"Making the top 10 was one of Joelle's career goals at the
start of the year and she will be very satisfied with that
achievement. Her ranking has improved steadily throughout the
year and breaking into the top 10 is good reward for plenty
of hard work and determination. Along with fellow Kiwi Jaclyn
Hawkes, King is a great role model for our sport and this
accomplishment plus her gold medal in the Commonwealth Games
in 2010 continues to lift the profile of squash in New
Zealand,'' O'Grady said.
Kiwi No.2 Jaclyn Hawkes remained at No.15 in the world while
Martin Knight moved up three places on the PSA rankings to
now sit at 43.
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