INTERVIEW: New Zealand’s squash superman, world No. 5 Coll

Ghada Abdel-Kader, Thursday 31 Oct 2019

Coll has reached the semifinals in the Egyptian Squash Open, currently being played at the Giza Pyramids

New Zealand’s squash World No. 5, Paul Coll, is the first non-Egyptian player to advance to the semifinals of the Egyptian Squash Open at the Pyramids of Giza.

The tournament is taking place from 24 October until 1 November.

The 27-year-old beat his Egyptian quarterfinal rival, World No. 14 Fares Dessouki, 3-2,11-6, 5-11, 11-8, 9-11,11-9, in a match that lasted 82 minutes on Tuesday.

The Kiwi will now play against Egypt’s World No.1 Ali Farag at 8:15pm this evening.

“Today's match is going to be a very tough match,” Coll told Ahram Online.

Coll has visited Egypt before and participated in other tournaments. He said: “It is the first time for me to play in front of the Pyramids, which is really amazing. I like Egypt and I achieved good results, too.”

The 27-year-old has been in the top 10 of the PSA (Professional Squash Association) World Rankings for two years now. He became World No. 5 in October 2019.

He added: “It was my dream to be among the top five of the world. It is a really pretty feelings. I feel proud about it.”

Coll was born in Greymouth town, New Zealand. He moved to the Netherlands for last six years to keep training and enjoy squash there.

The Greymouth player is nicknamed on the tour as “Superman" for his incredible feats of athleticism. He became the first New Zealand player inside the top 20 of the world rankings, in January 2017, after former New Zealand professional squash player Ross Norman in 1995.

His last achievement for the season 2019/2020 was snatching the title of the 2019 Open Des France Nantes. Coll beat Welshman Joel Makin 3-0 in the final match.

Coll has won 14 PSA world tour titles until now, and two world mixed doubles in the years 2016 and 2017. He took silver in the men’s singles event and bronze in the men’s mixed doubles at the Commonwealth Games in 2018.

He was New Zealand’s national champion for three consecutive years, in 2015, 2016 and 2017.