Squash player and Cambridge student Harry Leitch narrowly missed out on a Commonwealth Games bronze medal on Wednesday as he, along with men’s doubles partner Scottish number one Alan Clyne, lost to Australian pair Pilley and Cuskelly 11-5, 11-7 in the Bronze Medal match.  Leitch, a medical postgraduate from Cambridge, and seven-time Blue, has been competing in the squash men’s doubles and mixed doubles for Scotland this week in India and has punched well above his weight in the international arena.

Earlier in the week the Scottish pairing pulled off a major upset in the men’s doubles knocking out the English third seeds Peter Barker and Daryl Selby. Barker and Selby were regarded as potential medallists, being ranked eighth and tenth in the world respectively.  By contrast, Leitch is unable to train fully due to the fact he is currently studying for a PhD in developmental and embryonic stem cell biology.  Such inexperience and lack of conditioning did not show, however, as the Scottish pair took only 69 minutes to claim victory 11-7, 11-7.

Despite losing 2-0 in the semifinals to an Australian pairing on Tuesday, Leitch is extremely proud of what he and his partner, who is ranked fiftieth in the world, have achieved in India this week. “This is it,” he told the world’s press. “The highlight before was making the quarter-finals with John White in 2006, so this surpasses that."

Having come so close to a medal marks a huge achievement for Leitch, but it could have been very different.  At 8-6 down in the first set of the semi-final, the referee made a ‘no let’ call which had most of the Siri Fort Sports Complex groaning and cat-calling.  One of the Australian pairing interfered with the Scotsman’s swing meaning he was unable to play the shot.  The referee, however, decided that the interference was not enough to call a let and replay the point, meaning that the Scottish pair went down to 9-6 from which they were unable to recover. Leitch stormed out of the court to confront the referee, but her decision remained final despite the crowds and the BBC commentator’s protests.

His chances of a medal are not gone yet, however, as he and partner Lisa Aitken have reached the quarter-final stage of the mixed doubles competition after making short work of the Canadian pairing of Stephanie Edminson and Andrew McDougall 11-7, 11-2 in just 29 minutes.  They received a bye through the last sixteen round and will play their quarter-final later this week.
He  claims that his experience as a medical student has helped him  through the competition so far.  “We fight for each other,” he concluded, “and as I don’t play full time maybe I just want it more than the others.”

Cambridge will be hoping that such drive helps Leicht to reach a second semi-final in the mixed doubles later in the week.