Austin Adarraga
Australian-Spanish squash player
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Austin Adarraga (born 1965), also known as Austin Adarraga Almirall,[1][a] is a former professional squash player for Spain. In May 1993, he reached the eleventh place on the international circuit, his best ranking.[2] He was Spanish champion four times between 1988 and 1994.
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Austin Adarraga Almirall | ||||||||||||||
| Born | 1965 (age 60–61) Townsville, Queensland, Australia | ||||||||||||||
| Sport | |||||||||||||||
| Country | Australia / Spain | ||||||||||||||
| Turned pro | 1984 | ||||||||||||||
| Retired | 1995 | ||||||||||||||
| Highest ranking | 11 (May 1993) | ||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Adarraga was born Townsville, Queensland, to Spanish parents who emigrated to Australia. At the age of eleven, he was the Australian under-13 champion by beating Rodney Martin, a future world squash champion. In 1979, while spending the holidays with his uncle and aunt in Spain, he was a finalist in the first Spanish squash championship against Carlos Sainz, aged 16, a future world rally champion.[3]
At the age of seventeen, he was quarter-finalist in the World Junior Squash Championships representing Australia, bowing to Jansher Khan. He then joined the Australian Institute of Sport under the direction of Geoff Hunt.[1]
In 1985, he received a letter from the Spanish federation asking him to represent Spain at a European competition taking place in Barcelona[4] and chose to represent Spain in official competitions. In 1992, he achieved his best year by rising to the semi-finals of the world championship, only beaten by the Jansher Khan.[5] Adarraga retired from sport in 1995 and returned to Australia.[citation needed]
Notes
- In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Adarraga and the second or maternal family name is Almirall.