London Varsity Series 2020: SQUASH

It was not pretty but it was certainly effective. The King’s squash team emerged victorious despite losing two matches by three games to none. First and foremost, credit must go to the students of both universities who referred the matches in a completely unbiased manner, which was great to see. The day started off badly for King’s as the first women’s singles match finished 3-0 to Gower. The next match was crucial in stopping UCL from running away with it. In steps Qasim. The KCL man made a good start to the match winning the first game 11-5 and the two competitors entertained the crowd with some incredible rallies. However, KCL smiles started to fade as UCL won the next two games 13-11 and 11-6. Rackets were thrown. Qasim’s tactic of tiring out his opponent appeared to be failing.

However, the last two games saw a reversal in frustrations as the Gower athlete got a bit confused with anatomy and screamed ‘Where are your legs?!’ after losing a point. Qasim secured the W, tying up the game. The mixed doubles game was also just as nerve racking. The UCL man tried targeting KCL’ s Danny throughout the match, but it was to no avail, as she easily returned almost all of his shots. The Strandies went back and forth with Gower, winning the first and third games, 11-7 and 11-8 respectively, whilst those in purple took games two and four, 11-9 and 12-10 respectively, despite an outrageous behind the back point winner. Commence the nail bitting. The last game was as close as the other four but the KCL duo emerged victorious 11-8, winning the match 3-2. The next women’s match I rather enjoyed as Yemaya of KCL wiped the floor with her UCL adversary, winning the match 11-9,11-1(I know) and 11-5. This result meant that this event went the way of those in red. Fortunately as well, because the last game saw the two captains square off in a match where the Gower man comfortably won all three games, but it was only a consolation.