The first weekend in July saw the New Zealand Squash Championships take place in Tauranga, where Joelle King made history by becoming the first athlete to win 11 New Zealand Squash Championship titles.

The tournament was an intense competition among the 44 athletes taking part, who played 125 matches over the course of the weekend.

Joelle King made history as she surpassed squash legend Dame Susan Devoy’s 32-year-old record of 10 national titles, after winning 11-5, 7-11, 11-3, 11-8 in the final over up-and-coming junior 18-year-old Ella Lash.

Reflecting on her victory, King said, “To dream of winning one was huge when I was a child, so to be on my 11th is surreal. I’ll never match some of Suzie’s records but to beat one of them is no mean feat and I’m really pleased.”

In the men’s division, New Zealand has a new champion following a thrilling match between brothers Temwa and Lwamba Chileshe. Older brother Lwamba emerged victorious, winning 17-15, 11-7, 11-8, to claim his first national title. Lwamba shared his mixed emotions, saying, “It was a bittersweet victory for me today as I always want the best for my brother and it’s always hard playing him as we both know each other’s games inside and out. I am very stoked to have won my first ever national title.”

SquashLevels has taken the data from the tournament and analysed all of the incredible performances over the weekend, finding out the most improved players, by the largest percentage level increase, across the tournament.

Top 5 Percentage Increases across the New Zealand Squash Championship

The table below showcases the five most improved level by percentage increase across the NZ Squash Championships, with players moving up in the NZ SquashLevels rankings as well as crossing into new gradings.

Player	Age Category	Initial Level	Initial Grade	Final Level	Final Grade	Percentage Increase
Joe Smythe	U21	12457	A1	14238	A1	14.30%
William Donnelly	Senior	11221	A1	12684	A1	13.04%
Ella Lash	U19	6230	A1	6994	A1	12.26%
Georgia Fyfe	U23	2116	A2	2309	A2	9.12%
Tom Marshall	U21	9971	A2	10681	A1	7.12%

New Zealand Squash Championship Winners:

In the women’s first place Joelle King maintained her #1 NZ ranking with no change in level. In second place, Ella Lash improved significantly with a 12.26% increase in level, whilst also maintaining her third place NZ ranking. Third place Jena Gregory saw a modest increase of 4.72%, keeping her NZ rank #5.

In the men’s Lwamba Chileshe took first place with a 4.47% increase, staying at #3 in the NZ rankings. In second place was his younger brother Temwa Chileshe who showcased a 3.65% improvement and maintained his #5 NZ ranking. In third place was Elijah Thomas who had a 5.97% increase in level, staying at #4 in the NZ rankings.

The following table shows their level change over the event

Player	Initial Level	Final Level	Percentage Increase
Joelle King	11486	11486	0.00%
Ella Lash	6230	6994	12.26%
Jena Gregory	5364	5617	4.72%
Lwamba Chileshe	24778	25886	4.47%
Temwa Chileshe	11245	11656	3.65%
Elijah Thomas	13562	14372	5.97%

Congratulations to all the winners and competitors – don’t forget to register for SquashLevels to track your progress going forward…

About SquashLevels

SquashLevels is a results-based Rating system. As players compete in their leagues and tournaments, their results automatically flow into SquashLevels from their results providers. From here, SquashLevels’ unique algorithm will calculate a Level for each player based on their opponents’ Level, their result including points scores, behavioural modelling and various other factors. SquashLevels rewards a player for performing better than they were expected to based on their Level.