Rodney Eyles

Rodney Eyles
Country  Australia
Residence Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia
Born (1967-09-15) 15 September 1967
Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Retired November 2000
Plays Right-Handed
Men's Singles
Highest ranking 2 (November 1995)
World Open W (1997)
Last updated on: 20 December 2011.

Rodney Eyles (born 15 September 1967, Brisbane) is a former professional squash player from Australia. He is best remembered for winning the World Open title in 1997.[1]

An alumnus of St James College (Brisbane), Eyles joined the professional squash tour as a 16-year-old in May 1984 and was an athlete in the inaugural Australian Institute of Sport Squad from 1985. He was on the PSA World Tour for 16 years and held the position of President from 1996-1998. He retired in November 2000 at the age of 33. His career-high world ranking was World No. 2. The pinnacle of his career was reached in 1997 when he became world champion, defeating Peter Nicol in the final of the 1997 World Open 15-11, 15-12, 15-12.[2]

Rodney was part of the winning Australian team at the 1991 Men's World Team Squash Championships and was also a runner-up in the 1993 Men's World Team Squash Championships.[3]

Eyles attained a wealth of title's including:
Australian Open Champion (1997), Australian Junior Champion, Commonwealth Games Men’s Doubles Silver Medal (1998), US Open Champion (1993 and 1996), French Open Champion, Hong Kong Open Champion, Hungarian Open Champion, Italian Open Champion, Mahindra Open Champion, North American Open Champion, Tournament of Champions, New York (Champion 1994 & Finalist), British Open (Finalist), Qatar Open (Finalist 3 times), Pakistan Open (Finalist)

As a junior player, Eyles was runner-up to Jansher Khan in the final of the 1986 World Junior Squash Championship. Between 1980 and 1986, he won four Australian junior titles and three Queensland junior titles. He was a member of the Australian teams which won the World Team Squash Championships in 1991 and the World Junior Team Championships in 1986. He also won a silver medal for Australia in the men's doubles event at the 1998 Commonwealth Games (partnering Byron Davis). After retiring from the tour, he coached up and coming players in Italy, Hong Kong and the USA before returning to the Gold Coast and establishing the Rod Eyles Squash Academy to focus on the development of juniors, seniors and professional squash players. In 2009 Rodney managed the Australian Men’s Team in Denmark, was the Manager and Head Coach for the 2010 Australian Boys Junior Squash Team in Ecuador, and the Manager of the successful Australian Squash Team at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi.[4]

In 2010, Rodney joined the Squash Australia Team as an AIS consultant coach before becoming the National Talent Development Coach in 2011. . Eyles was inducted into the Australian Squash Hall of Fame in 2008 and the Queensland Squash Hall of Fame in 2005.[5]

References

  1. "Rodney Eyles profile". Squash Info.
  2. "Rodney Eyles". squash.org.au.
  3. "Men's World Team Championship" (PDF). worldsquash.org.
  4. "The comeback of a lost sport". moregoldcoast.com.au.
  5. "Hall of Fame members". squash.org.au.
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