Profile
 |
Country: |
England |
| Date of birth: |
28th November 1977 |
| Place of birth: |
Huddersfield, Yorkshire |
| Place of residence: |
Pontefract, Yorkshire |
| Marital status: |
Single |
| Highest World ranking: |
1 (October 2004) |
| World Tour titles: |
9 |
| World Tour finals: |
17 |
| National titles: |
British National Champion 2001, 2002 & 2005 |
Lee Beachill is a professional squash player from Huddersfield, England, a three times British Champion, former World and English No.1 and twice Commonwealth Games Gold Medallist.
Lee has won nine PSA World Tour titles; the Wolverhampton Open (2007), US Open (2005 & 2004), Mamut English Open (2004), Bermuda Open (2004), Qatar Classic (2003), Adelaide Club Open (2001), Pittsburgh Open (2001) and the South African Open (2000).
In a distinguished junior career, Lee was the British Champion at all age groups U/12, U/14, U/16 and U/19 - winning the latter two categories in successive years.
Lee has represented England at junior and senior levels, captaining the U19 junior team to victory in the 1997 World Junior Team Championships, and has represented the senior team since the 1999 European Team Championships.
Lee is managed by internationalSPORTgroup™, is part of the England Squash World Class Performance Programme, based in Pontefract, Yorkshire.
Lee’s principal sponsors are Dunlop (rackets, clothing, equipment & luggage), Hi-Tec Sports (footwear), Ashaway (string) and Tournagrip (racket grips).
Biography
With a world number one ranking to his name, nine PSA Tour titles including two at the US Open, two Commonwealth Games gold medals, three British National Championship titles and three successful World Team Championship campaigns for England, there is little more that Lee Beachill has to prove in squash.
True to the characteristic of a Yorkshireman, Beachill is a determined young man. But the 29-year-old achieved everything he has in the sport 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!
In 2001, Beachill 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. After winning his third title in 2005, he went on the following year to become the first player ever to reach the final six years in a row.
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. Four years later, in Melbourne last month, the pair become the first players ever to successfully defend any squash title, beating the same Australians Stewart Boswell and Anthony Ricketts for the second successive time in the final.
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.
In 2006, he reached the Super Series Finals final for the first after beating Anthony Ricketts, Thierry Lincou and England team-mate Peter Nicol en-route. But he lost to Ricketts in his second meeting in the event - but avenged this defeat, beating the top seeded Australian as he fought through to the final of the Hungarian Open in October.
Beachill's standout achievement in 2007 was marking up his 17th PSA Tour final appearance by reaching the climax of the Virginia Pro Championship in the USA and winning the Wolverhampton Open, the UK's largest club-based squash championships.