Paul Coll says he struggled “to sleep properly this week’’ as he “dreamed about this moment’’ – winning New Zealand’s first men’s squash Commonwealth Games gold medal.
The 30-year-old slumped to the court in relief and delight after delivering the West Coast a rare Commonwealth Games title in a five-set 95-minute marathon before winning 3-2.
The tournament top seed and world No 2 survived a setback in the first game to beat Wales’ world No 7 Joel Makin in Birmingham 3-11, 11-9, 8-11, 11-8, 11-7 on Wednesday (Thursday NZ time) and become New Zealand’s first male Commonwealth Games squash champion.
It capped a stellar year for Coll, the 2018 Commonwealth silver medallist who defended his British Open in April after his break-through win in 2021.
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Paul Coll shows his delight at winning his Commonwealth Games squash gold medal in Birmingham.
After receiving his gold medal from world squash great Jansher Khan, Coll declared it “one of the best moments of my life’’, but conceded he had had to “dig deep’’.
“It’s been amazing this week, it’s been on the top of my mind, I haven’t been able to turn my brain off,’’ Coll told Sky Sport.
“Watching all the other Kiwi athletes just gave me so much motivation and desire to have a gold medal around my neck tonight.
“I couldn’t be more proud of myself. I was battling out there … [trying] to find a way to win the match. It was just epic, there were so many Kiwis in the crowd, it was one of the best moments of my life.”
Visualising a gold medal victory had been “keeping me up at night’’, Coll said. “I’ve just been dreaming of this every night his week.’’
Coll knew he was in for an epic – he had beaten Makin, a 27-year-old from Pembrokeshire, in a tough five-setter in the 2018 Commonwealth Games semifinal before losing the final to England’s James Willstrop.
The pair produced another thriller four years later, one worthy of an All Blacks-Wales test match.
Play was punctuated with breaks for two failed reviews while the court surface had to be mopped regularly after the players – sweating due to the Birmingham heat and the intensity of their rallies – tumbled to the …….