Karen Leach (squash player)
Welsh squash player
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Karen Ann Leach née Karen Hargreaves (born 24 April 1976) is an English-born former professional squash player who represented Wales at the Commonwealth Games, and was a three-time national champion of Wales.[3]
Biography
Born Karen Hargreaves in Southport, England, she had Welsh family which qualified her to represent Wales.[4] She did however represent the England U23 team and played her club squash in England for West Lancashire.[5]
Hargreaves, a left handed player, first became Welsh national champion in 1999 at her first attempt in the Championships, when she defeated Katrina Hogan in the final.[6]
Hargreaves represented the 2002 Welsh team[7] at the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester, England, where she competed in the two events. Partnering Gavin Jones in the mixed doubles, the pair reached the quarter-finals,[8] and she repeated the success by reaching the quarter-finals of the women's doubles with Katrina Hogan.[9]
After she married she played under her married name of Leach, and won her second and third national titles in 2006[10] and 2007 respectively.[11]