Lim, Sultana reign supreme in Gympie

The 2023 Gympie PSA Open was contested over the weekend at Victory Squash with great action across three days of competition.

Proudly supported by Gympie Regional Council, the PSA Satellite event was contested across both women’s and men’s divisions, as well as the Gympie Invitational which pitted the pro’s against the locals.

The men’s tournament began with an opening round epic which saw Kijan Sultana take out James Lloyd in a five-game thriller which lasted more than an hour and set the tone for three great days of action.

Top-seeded Rhys Dowling made his way through to the final without dropping a game, averaging less 23 minutes on court in his quarter and semi final. His opponent was Bryan Lim who took down second seed Nicholas Calvert in his semi.

Dowling dropped the opening game of the decider before evening things up at a game apiece, however Lim claimed 22 of the next 29 points to win 11-5, 9-11, 11-1, 11-6 in 43 minutes.

In the women’s competition, the top two seeds Sophie Fadaely (1) and Colette Sultana (2) made their way through to the final courtesy of three-game victories in their respective semi finals.

In the decider, Sultana was able to finish the match in under 20 minutes, winning 11-6, 11-5, 11-4.

The Gympie Invitational saw first round losers from the Men’s PSA event up against the best local talent. After the event was cancelled in 2022 due to flooding, 2021 runner-up David Turner was keen for redemption. After cruising through the first two rounds, he came up against top seed James Lloyd in the final which was a much tougher proposition.

Turner was able to win the first two games however Lloyd hit back to claim a tight one in the third. Turner then gained an edge in the fourth game and never let go, winning 11-6, 11-4, 9-11, 11-7. The win saw Lloyd banking $300 in prizemoney courtesy of the Gympie Squash Racquets Association.