Australian Open champ Anthony Ricketts is set some tough goals in the Australian team.
The Australian team predicted to be the strongest squash team ever has set its sights on capturing more than half the gold medals on offer at the Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games.
The ten member team includes recently crowned world doubles champions Anthony Ricketts and Stewart Boswell, mixed doubles champions Rachael Grinham and Joseph Kneipp, and former world number one David Palmer.
Sisters Rachael and Natalie Grinham have become the second set of siblings named in the Australian team, joining brothers Clive and George Barton who will compete in the skeet shooting.
Rachael, who recently took out the women's Australian Open title, will be making her third games appearance, striving to better the two bronze medals she took home in Manchester.
World number 3 and reigning British Open champion Anthony Ricketts was also crowned Australian Open champion this month.
Daniel Jenson, Kasey Brown, Dianne Desira and Amelia Pittock will make their Commonwealth Games debut.
The CEO of the Australian Commonwealth Games Association, Perry Crosswhite, said the team has set very high expectations.
"The Commonwealth Games is virtually a world championship for both singles and doubles and means an enormous amount to the players," he said.
"The team has set a target of three gold, two silver and three bronze medals, which when you look at the opposition will be difficult to achieve, but they are not shying away from their predictions."
Australia's 2006 Commonwealth Games Squash team is:
Men
Stewart Boswell
Daniel Jenson
Joseph Kneipp
David Palmer
Anthony Ricketts
Women
Kasey Brown
Dianne Desira
Natalie Grinham
Rachael Grinham
Amelia Pittock
Selection Manager - Norman Fry
Coach - Byron Davis
Coach - Geoff Hunt
Australia will face a tough challenge with current world number 1 Jonathon Power from Canada and England’s highly-ranked trio of James Willstrop, Peter Nicol and Lee Beachill all expected to make a Games appearance.
Among the women, world number 1 Nicol David from Malaysia, who recently upset Rachael Grinham to cement her place as world champion, and New Zealand doubles pair Shelley Kitchen and Tamsyn Leevey will be the biggest threats to Australia's success.
Australia has achieved great success in every Games since Squash was introduced, taking home five medals including two golds in Kuala Lumpur in 1998 and seven medals with only one gold in Manchester in 2002.
The squash tournament will run at the Melbourne Sports and Aquatics Centre from 16-26 March 2006.
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