AFTER nearly 10 years away from squash, Zephanie Curgenven has turned professional and has her eyes set on the 2010 Commonwealth Games.
The 25-year-old (pictured) showed her class at the weekend when she swept all in front of her to win the Channel Islands Women’s Championship.
The victory, along with her winning this year’s Hampshire Closed Championship, appears to have made her eligible to go to Delhi for the Games next October.
She will find out in March as to whether she has been selected to represent Guernsey.
‘That’s definitely what I want to do,’ she said.
‘I’d love to go and if I break into the top 50 that would be amazing as well, but that might take a while. My aim is to get really high up the world rankings.’
Curgenven was a very promising junior player.
Once ranked number two in England in her age group, she also came second in the prestigious Dutch Open.
But then, at the age of 15, she fell out of love with the sport. However, at the start of the year she got back into squash.
In July, the qualified accountant gave up her job with the Bank of Butterfield, packed her bags and moved to Watford to take up the sport full-time.
‘It’s now or never, because I’m not getting any younger,’ she said.
‘It’s something that I’ve always wanted to do. Most people go travelling and this is the same as taking a year out.’
Since taking the plunge, Curgenven broke into the world top 200 last month.
She recently competed in an Indian Challenger event in Chennai and in the Hong Kong Open, in which fellow Sarnian professional and Commonwealth Games-bound Chris Simpson also took part.
Unfortunately for Curgenven, she was knocked out in the opening round of both but gained valuable experience in the process.
Today sees her enter the Coronation London Open. The tournament has prize money of $8,000.Channel Islands Championship: Local girls aims for the big time
Article posted on 10th November, 2009 - 2.29pm
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