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City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder Golden Open 2023 |
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City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder Golden Open
2023
Men's Draw
02-04 Jun
Kalgoorlie, WA, Australia, $3k |
Final:
[2] Ravindu Laksiri (SRI) bt [1] Joseph White (AUS) 14-12, 5-11,
7-11, 11-8, 11-7
Semi-finals:
[1] Joseph White (AUS) bt [3] Nicholas Calvert (AUS) 11-4, 11-6,
11-7 (38m)
[2] Ravindu Laksiri (SRI) bt [4] Mike Corren (AUS) 11-8, 11-5, 7-11,
11-5 (33m)
Quarter-finals:
[1] Joseph White (AUS) bt Ryu Jeongmin (KOR) 11-5, 11-3, 11-8 (27m)
[3] Nicholas Calvert (AUS) bt David Turner (AUS) 9-11, 11-6, 11-1, 11-3
(39m)
[4] Mike Corren (AUS) bt [6] Oscar Curtis (AUS) 11-8, 11-5, 6-11, 4-11,
11-7 (48m)
[2] Ravindu Laksiri (SRI) bt [7] Tate Zak Norris (AUS) 11-6, 7-11,
13-11, 11-2 (51m)
1st round:
[1] Joseph White (AUS) bye
Ryu Jeongmin (KOR) bt [5] James Lloyd (AUS) 13-11, 6-11, 10-12, 11-5,
11-8 (67m)
David Turner (AUS) bt [8] Shamil Wakeel (SRI) 5-11, 11-8, 11-8, 11-6
(40m)
[3] Nicholas Calvert (AUS) bye
[4] Mike Corren (AUS) bye
[6] Oscar Curtis (AUS) bt Remi Young (AUS) 11-4, 10-12, 11-8, 11-5 (39m)
[7] Tate Zak Norris (AUS) bt David Ilich (AUS) 11-8, 11-3, 11-5 (27m)
[2] Ravindu Laksiri (SRI) bye |
Final
Laksiri Downs Top Seed To Win Title
Ravindu Laksiri (right) with the City of Kalgoorlie Open trophy
Sri Lanka’s Ravindu Laksiri claimed the City of Kalgoorlie – Boulder
Golden Open crown, beating top seed Joseph White in the final this
weekend.
Laksiri came into the Challenger 3 level competition as the tournament’s
No.2 seed and due to the 16-man draw not being filled, the Sri Lankan
received a bye through the opening day’s action.
He then played twice on the second day, winning both his quarter final
and semi-final contest to reach the final on Sunday. He started with a
four-game victory over Australia’s Tate Zak Norris, regrouping after
losing the second game of that contest to win 3-1.
The Sri Lankan then took on Mike Corren, the tournament’s No.4 seed, in
the semis. This time, he went two games to the good, before seeing
Corren fight back to win the third 11-7. Laksiri regrouped once more,
winning the fourth to advance to the final.
The final saw him face off against top seed Joseph White, who was in
good form after winning the Barfoot & Thompson Auckland/Oceania Open
last month.
He looked in a good position to make it back-to-back wins on Tour, going
2-1 after losing the opening game on a tie-break 14-12. Laksiri fought
back through, to win the fourth game 11-8, before then taking the
deciding fifth game 11-7 to claim his second win of the season. |
Preview
White Aiming For Back-To-Back Wins
Joseph White
The City of Kalgoorlie – Boulder Golden Open kicks off on Friday, and
Australia’s Joseph White is aiming for back-to-back wins on the Tour.
White was the victor at last week’s Barfoot & Thompson Auckland/Oceania
Open, beating New Zealand’s Lwamba and Temwa Chileshe, the tournament’s
top two seeds, en route to taking the title.
We spoke to the Australian No.1 ahead of this week’s Challenger 3 level
City of Kalgoorlie – Boulder Golden Open, and he admits that he is
looking for the consistency which could see him take back-to-back wins.
“It was a great week in Auckland, I’m very fortunate to have stayed with
a great host family who I’ve stayed with previously, so I had a really
good preparation for the event and was able to recover well after some
tough matches to come through and take the title,” he explained.
“For the first few months of the year I had a lot of travel and hard
training being based overseas in the US working with Rodney Martin and
Ryan Cuskelly. So it was nice to see the hard work pay off and get the
title.
“I’ve been working on the consistency in my game and being able to back
up performances and come through matches where I may not be playing my
best. So being able to back up this weekend and produce a good
performance is definitely the goal.”
Off the back of the win in Auckland, White will be the top seed this
week in Kalgoorlie. Despite that, he doesn’t believe there will be any
extra pressure on home soil, as he continues his push towards the
world’s top 100.
“I don’t feel that being the top seed adds to much pressure for me
heading into this weekend. The
depth of the Tour these days means you need to be ready to play good
squash from the first round and seeding isn’t always reflective of
players ability,” White said.
“So I think this weekend comes with the same challenges as any event and
I need to focus on my own processes to play my best squash.
“I feel that the level of squash that I’m playing is getting closer and
closer to guys within the top 100 and the overseas exposure earlier in
the year has definitely helped me in getting more confident against
higher ranked players and identifying areas in which I need to improve
to be able to really challenge and start beating those players.”
White will be the top seed this week, with compatriots Nicholas Calvert
and Mike Corren among the top four seeds. Corren is a six-time winner of
this tournament, and will be looking to add to his 52 title on Tour.
Sri Lanka’s Ravindu Laksiri and Pakistan’s Zeeshan Zeb will be the only
non-Australians among the top eight seeds for the tournament. They will
be joined by James Lloyd, Oscar Curtis and Tate Zak Norris as the rest
of the seeded players in Kalgoorlie.
For more information on the event, where available see the
PSA Live Scores page, or follow
on
PSAChallengerTourLivestreams,
Facebook,
Twitter,
Instagram
&
TikTok. Selected
events will also be streamed live on
SQUASHTV.
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