Carol Owens (squash player)

Carol Owens

Country	Australia,  New Zealand
Residence	Auckland, New Zealand
Born	(1971-06-04) 4 June 1971 Melbourne, Australia
Retired	2004
Women's singles
Highest ranking	No. 1 (November 2002)
Medal record Women's squash Representing  Australia,  New Zealand Commonwealth Games 2002 Manchester Women's doubles 2002 Manchester Women's singles 1998 Kuala Lumpur Women's doubles
Last updated on: 3 March 2010.

Carol Owens (born 4 June 1971) is a former New Zealand-based squash player who won the World Open in 2000 and 2003.

Owens was born in Melbourne, Australia, and would eventually change her nationality when she moved to Auckland, New Zealand. A right-hander, she made her competitive debut in 1990 in the Swiss Open where she finished 17th. Her first final was the 1993 Japan Open where she was a runner-up to the Canadian Heather Wallace. She didn't have to wait long for her first major victory, which came in October in Adelaide, South Australia.

She was part of the Australian winning team at the 1994 Women's World Team Squash Championships, 1996 Women's World Team Squash Championships and 1998 Women's World Team Squash Championships.

She has the unique achievement of representing both Australia and New Zealand at the highest level and is the first female player to win medals for two countries at the Commonwealth Games.^[1]

Carol began to challenge for the world championship whilst still representing Australia and her first World Open title came in 2000 when she beat New Zealander Leilani Joyce 7–9, 3–9, 10–8, 9–6, 9–1. This was after an equally epic semi-final against Sarah Fitz-Gerald.
In 2001 Carol changed nationality becoming a New Zealander and at the 2002 Commonwealth Games she won the gold in the doubles and a silver in the singles. The elusive second world title came in 2003, when she beat Cassie Campion 3–9, 9–2, 9–7, 9–3. It was in 2003 that she became – for the first time – the World No. 1 ranked player.

At the beginning of 2004, Carol announced that she had retired from the professional game.^[2]

World Open

Finals: 2 (2 title, 0 runners-up)

Outcome	Year	Location	Opponent in the final	Score in the final
Winner	2000 Women's World Open Squash Championship	Edinburgh, Scotland	Leilani Joyce	9–6, 9–5, 7–9, 5–9, 9–6
Winner	2003 Women's World Open Squash Championship	Hong Kong	Cassie Jackman	3–9, 9–2, 9–7, 9–3

World Team Championships

Finals: 3 (3 title, 0 runner-up)

Outcome	Year	Location	Opponent in the final	Score in the final
Winner	1994 Women's World Team Squash Championships	Saint Peter Port, Guernsey	England	3-0
Winner	1996 Women's World Team Squash Championships	Petaling Jaya, Malaysia	England	2-1
Winner	1998 Women's World Team Squash Championships	Stuttgart, Germany	England	3-0

See also

• List of WISPA number 1 ranked players
• Official Women's Squash World Ranking

References

External links

• Carol Owens profile from WISPA (archived)
• Carol Owens at SquashPics.com (archived)
• Carol Owens profile from SquashInfo
• Profile at the New Zealand Olympic Committee website