Bill Berry (Darfield) was forced to draw on all his old competitive instincts to win his eighth successive New Zealand Masters Games squash gold medal yesterday.
Berry (78) displayed his fighting spirit to come back from two sets down to beat Eddie Delahunty (Lower Hutt) 2-9, 7-9, 9-5, 9-1, 9-2 in a dramatic men's over 65 final at squash headquarters at Logan Park.
He was forced to rekindle the ‘‘never say die'' approach of his old Dunedin sporting days when playing football for Northern and New Zealand and senior cricket for Grange.
Delahunty (73) had never beaten Berry in squash but he played like a man possessed as he rattled Berry's cage with powerful shots that rebounded off the backboard and deceptive drop shots that a stretching Berry could not reach.
He has had two hip operations and four months ago his steel hip popped out. But none of that was noticeable as he jumped around the court like a spring chicken. Wellington squash players who know him well said Delahunty was desperate to win and ran more in the first two sets than was usual.
Delahunty tired in the second set and was not confident about winning the game despite being two sets up. ‘‘I have never beaten Bill before and I knew he would come back at me,'' Delahunty said.
Berry sat down in the armchair and reflected on the game situation at the end of the second set. ‘‘I was worried,'' he said.
‘‘My shots were not going in. But I just had to keep plugging away.''
He knew a change of tactics was needed to upset Delahunty's confidence. ‘‘I changed my service from the right-hand box to the left-hand box, and Eddie did not handle them as well,'' Berry said.
Berry's ability to keep calm under pressure was tested. He needed to adjust his game to upset the rhythm of Delahunty's game.
Berry is the Malvern district coach in Canterbury and is involved with squash every day.
His wife, Beverley, was watching from the gallery and understood the pressure Berry was being put under by Delahunty.
The new strategy worked and Berry got a decisive break midway through the third set to win it 9-7. Berry won the fourth set 9-1 and Delahunty knew that the game was slipping out of his grasp.
Delahunty offered little resistance in the fifth set as Berry raced to a 9-2 lead for game, set and match. Berry, a dynamic centre forward, was known as ‘‘Bomber'' Berry when he played football for Northern, Otago and three games for New Zealand between 1954 and 1958. He also played senior cricket for Grange.
He scored 80 goals for Otago and more than 300 for the Northern club that reached the Chatham Cup finals six times and won the cup in 1959 and 1961.
Berry, who lives in retirement at Darfield in Canterbury, has been married to his wife, Beverley, for 56 years. He is seeking another gold medal in tennis while Beverley will be playing bowls in the triples with her sister, Fay, and brother-in-law, John Byers, from Outram.
Gerard De Courcy, the vice-president of the World Squash Federation, beat fellow Dunedin player Mark Payne 3-0 in the final of the men's aged 40 to 44 grade.
Mark Gribben had a comfortable three-set 9-8, 9-3, 9-4 win over Neil McDonald in the all-Dunedin final of the men's over 30 grade.
Denise Cooney (Dunedin) beat Aynsley Munro, the chief executive of Squash Otago, 3-0 in the women's aged 55 to 59 final.
