Black Isle squash ace Lobban smashes it at New Zealand classic
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
NORTH Kessock squash ace Greg Lobban claimed the biggest title of his career at the weekend as his impressive form in New Zealand continues.
Last week Lobban won the New Zealand International Classic in Palmerston North to secure back-to-back PSA World Tour titles following last month’s win at the Vitesse Stortford Classic in England.
The 24-year-old has now made it three titles in a row thanks to his latest triumph at the $15k NZ Southern Open in Invercargill.
Lobban, seeded five, defeated top seed Ivan Yuen from Malaysia in the Squash City final 11-7, 11-6, 3-11, 11-9 meaning he has won 15 of his 16 matches since returning to the tour following a hamstring injury picked up in October last year.
“I am playing as well as I’ve ever done and to win the biggest title of my career in Invercargill is a massive confidence booster for me,” a delighted Lobban said this week.
“I had never won back-to-back tournaments before last week and to now win three in a row is brilliant.
“I’ve only dropped one game in my past two tournaments and I don’t think I’ve done that before either.”
The world number 67 continued: “You don’t need to play your best squash to win sometimes and in the final against Ivan Yuen that was certainly the case.
“Mentally I am much stronger than I was before my injury.
“During my time off I realised that squash wasn’t the be-all and end-all and that approach has helped me.
“I don’t get too down on myself and trust that my hard work off the court will allow me to turn tough situations around.”
Lobban has one more tournament to play in Auckland, the $15k SquashXL Open, before heading back to the UK and aims to use any downtime away from the court this week to take in the build-up to the British and Irish Lions rugby union match against New Zealand being played in the same city on Saturday.
He said: “I’ve been following the Lions tour pretty closely and I’ve spoken to a few Lions fans while being out here. There are plenty of red shirts around the city ahead of this weekend’s match.”
Lots more local sport in this week's Ross-shire Journal.
