Women's Gold Medal Final:
[1] Camille Serme (FRA) bt [3/4] Joey Chan (HKG) 11-4, 11-3, 11-4 (26m)
Bronze medal play-off:
[2] Nicol David (MAS) bt [5/8] Fiona Moverley (GBR) 11-4, 11-8, 11-3 (28m)
Simon Rösner and Camille Serme won gold for Germany and France, respectively, in Poland tonight to bring the four-day Squash Championships in the World Games at the Hasta la Vista club in Wroclaw to an exuberant close.
A full house crowd at the world's biggest squash club cheered, clapped, stamped and whistled in appreciation of exhilarating rally after exhilarating rally on the all-glass showcourt, where medals were also won by Hong Kong and Malaysia - with France claiming an historic gold, silver and bronze set.
Squash was making its fifth appearance in the World Games, the quadrennial multi-sport event for non-Olympic programme sports - the 10th edition of which is the biggest sports event ever to be staged in Poland, under the patronage of the IOC.
Serme faced unexpected opponent Joey Chan (both pictured above), a 3/4 seed from Hong Kong who produced the event's biggest shock when she dethroned Nicol David, the three-time gold medallist, in a five-game semi-final.
The match clearly took its toll on the left-hander ranked 19 in the world as Serme swooped to victory in just 26 minutes, winning 11-4, 11-3, 11-4.
"That's the best I could have expected," said the beaming French number one clutching the French flag. "I played well and was sharp.
"Joey played two five-setters in the last two days, so I think she was tired - I played some shots she didn't even go for.
"I am very happy to win - beating a top 20 player 3/0 like that will give me confidence going into the new season."
On the French success in the Games, Serme explained: "At the beginning of the week we didn't expect to do this well. We have tried to get into the Olympics three times now, so if Paris win the 2024 bid, I hope this success will show that we have the chance to win medals.
Nicol David (pictured above on the podium with Serme and Chan) bounced from her shock semi-final defeat - where she fell to a fellow Asian opponent for the first time in 15 years - to take the women's bronze medal, beating Great Britain's surprise semi-finalist Fiona Moverley, a 5/8 seed, 11-4, 11-8, 11-3.
"The chance to win a medal is still something to play for - I wanted to get on and give it everything I had," said the former world number from Malaysia who was seeded to reach a fourth successive final. "I am really pleased to have won the medal.
"I will hopefully learn a lot from yesterday - I want to take a lot of positives out of it. You see things you need to sharpen up - I need to step up my training and be sharper."
On her World games experience, David added: "It's fantastic to have an event like this in Poland. The World Games is really good for squash and I hope we will get more recognition through participating in it."
World Games images courtesy of theworldgames2017.com
For all the latest images - photos.app.goo.gl/MJ0St1Uxv6ig3qX13
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