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PSA PLAYER BIOGRAPHY Name: LEE BEACHILL Country: ENGLAND Date of Birth: 28/11/77 Height: 6' 1" (183 cm) Place of Birth: Huddersfield Place of Residence: Pontefract Current World Ranking (Mar 06): 8 Highest World Ranking (Oct 04): 1 National Ranking: 1 PSA Titles: 8 PSA Final Appearances: 15 |
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True to the characteristic of a Yorkshireman, Lee Beachill is a determined young man. Not only has the 28-year-old from Pontefract won a number of top international squash titles - becoming in October 2004 the first true Englishman to become world number one - but Beachill achieved this after a serious road accident in December 1997 in which he broke his back in two places!
Despite being told that he would spend at least four months on his back - and would never play squash again - he was back on court after some eight weeks and made his tournament comeback at the 1998 British Open, in which he won six qualifying matches before being drawn to play favourite (and the eventual winner) Peter Nicol in the first round!
After a prolific junior career in which he won British National titles at U12, U14, U16 and two at U19, Beachill won his first PSA Tour title, the Adelaide Club Open in Toronto, Canada, in October 1998. Three years later he became the lowest seed ever to capture the British National title - a year afterwards, becoming the first man in history to successfully defend the crown.
In the 2002 Commonwealth Games in England, Beachill partnered Peter Nicol in the Men's Doubles and collected England's only gold medal of the Games, beating Australians Stewart Boswell and Anthony Ricketts in the final.
After surgery on his right ankle a year later, Beachill made his comeback for England in the European Team Championships in May, and in October clinched his first PSA Super Series title in Doha. Seeded nine, he upset Peter Nicol in the quarter-finals, then produced a stunning 15-12 15-5 11-15 12-15 15-9 victory over Scotland's John White, the No2 seed, in the final of the Qatar Classic to secure the biggest PSA title of his career to date.
Three major PSA titles in 2004 - the Bermuda Open, English Open and the US Open - gave Beachill his long-awaited reward in October when he reached No1 in the Dunlop PSA world rankings. He ended the year reaching the World Open final, for the first time, in Qatar.
Appearing in his fifth successive British Nationals title early in 2005, Beachill beat cub-mate James Willstrop in the final to win the title for the third time - but thereafter his PSA Tour year was, by his own standards, disappointing.
He reached the final of the PSA Masters in Bermuda in April - then, seeded three, made a morale-boosting run through the US Open field in Boston to reach the final where he upset No2 seed David Palmer to win the title for the second successive year.
At the World Open in December ‘05, he reached the last eight before losing to eventual winner, Amr Shabana. He reached the same stage of the Saudi International event shortly afterwards, this time falling to compatriot, Nick Matthew. Matthew again got the better of Beachill in the final of the British National Championships in February, denying the Yorkshireman his fourth national title.
Beachill slipped to 8th place in the February world rankings, his lowest position since December 2003. |
LEE BEACHILL TOURNAMENT SUCCESSES: Feb 06 Quarter-finalist Canary Wharf Classic ENG # non-PSA
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