It was an all-Canadian battle for 9th place as Sam Cornett took on friend and teammate Nikki Todd in their final match of women's singles action at the 2018 Gold Coast XXI Commonwealth Games.
It was an all-Canadian battle for 9th place as Sam Cornett took on friend and teammate Nikki Todd in their final match of women's singles action at the 2018 Gold Coast XXI Commonwealth Games.
After both winning their first matches, in the Round of 32, they would go on to face some tough competition in their Rd. 16 matchups. Sam faced 2-time Commonwealth Games gold medalist Nicol David, while Nikki took on England's Sarah-Jane Perry. Both️ Canadians would drop their matches. Moving from the main draw to the Classic Plate draw, Sam and Nikki went on to face each other in the Classic Plate final.
Both players played hard, teammates & friend off the court, neither was going to let the other take the W easily. After a hard-played 49min, Sam would take the win over country-mate Nikki 3-2 [11-9, 6-11, 11-8, 9-11, 12-10].
Graeme Williams, Team Canada coach, on-site with the duo had this to say about Sam and Nikki's singles play during the Games and their 9th place all-Canadian matchup, "Today was saying great experience and great for Canadian squash to have Sam and Nikki playing for 9th and 10th. Earlier on in the event Sam pushed the current gold-medal holder Nicol David hard [in her Round of 16 match] before eventually losing out 3-1. She lost the first 20-18, which I will point out is Nicol's longest ever game! Nikki came up against an in-form Sarah Jane Perry in her Round of 16 match. She [Nikki] showed glimpses of being able to cause an upset but was not able to put SJ under pressure for long enough periods. I hope these performances show our players how close they are and provide the motivation to work hard over the next 4 years."
Following their great play in the singles event, Sam and Nikki now switch their focus to the Women's Double event. The Canadian duo finished 5th at the 2017 WSF World Softball Doubles Championships, earning them their Commonwealth Games appearance. "Tomorrow we start the doubles campaign and both players are excited to get started. Preparations have gone well and if we can perform on the day, we will be a match for anyone." said Williams
For all things Gold Coast, including Sam & Nikki's doubles schedule and results, visit http://www.squash.ca/en/2018-commonwealth-games
