| Country |  Scotland |
|---|---|
| Residence | Cambridge, England |
| Born | 14 February 1985 Edinburgh, Scotland |
| Last updated: April, 2013. | |
Dr Harry Leitch (born 14 February 1985, in Edinburgh, Scotland) is a stem cell biologist and a Scottish international squash player. [1]
Having trained at the Heriot-Watt Squash Academy and the East of Scotland Institute of Sport, Leitch became Scotland's number one junior in 2002. [2]
He made his debut for the Scottish senior team in 2003 and has since made over 60 international appearances. [2] He competed at the European Championships, the World Championships and the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, where he, and partner John White, were knocked out (8-10 9-2 9-2 3-9 9-6) in the quarterfinals by the eventual champions Lee Beachill and Peter Nicol. [3]
In 2010, Leitch appeared at the Commonwealth Games a second time, playing alongside Alan Clyne in the Men's Doubles, and Lisa Aitken in the Mixed Doubles. He and Clyne finished 4th after losing 2–0 to the Australian team in the Bronze Medal Match. [4]
In September 2013 Leitch was one of the first 27 athletes to be selected as part of Team Scotland for the Commonwealth Games 2014. [5] Leitch and Clyne again reached the semi-finals in Men's Doubles but ultimately finished 4th, losing to James Willstrop and Daryl Selby in the Bronze Medal Match. [6]
In addition, he won a record ten Blues representing the University of Cambridge on the squash court. This led to the introduction of the 'Leitch Law' in 2014, which limits the number of varsity appearances to 8 in total, [7] essentially extending the 'Rankov Rule' from rowing to encompass all Varsity matches.
Leitch grew up in Edinburgh, where he attended George Watson's College. [8] Following graduation in 2003, Leitch entered the University of Cambridge, where he obtained a BA in Natural Sciences in 2007. He subsequently completed an MB/PhD at the School of Clinical Medicine and a research fellowship at Wolfson College, [9] as well as teaching Medicine at Fitzwilliam College. [10]
Peter Nicol is a former professional squash player from Scotland, who represented first Scotland and then England in international squash. In 1998, while still competing for Scotland, he became the first player from the UK to hold the World No. 1 ranking. During his career, he won one World Open title, two British Open titles, and four Commonwealth Games Gold Medals. He is widely considered to be one of the most outstanding international squash players of his time and was famous for his post match recovery BBQ meals. He was born in Inverurie, Aberdeenshire.
David Troy Palmer is an Australian retired professional squash player. He won the Super Series finals in 2002, the World Open in 2002 and 2006; the British Open in 2001, 2003, 2004 and 2008; and the Australian Open in 2008. He attained World No. 1 ranking in September 2001 and again in February 2006.
Scotland is one of only six countries to have competed in every Commonwealth Games since the first Empire Games in 1930. The others are Australia, Canada, England, New Zealand and Wales. The Commonwealth Games is the only major multi-sport event in which Scottish athletes and teams compete as Scotland; otherwise Scotland participates in multi-sport events as part of a Great Britain team.
James Willstrop is an English professional squash player from Yorkshire.
Chris Walker is a male squash coach and former professional squash player from England.
Tania Bailey is a professional squash player from England.
Nicholas MatthewOBE is a former English professional squash player who has won the two most prestigious tournaments in the professional game, the British Open and the World Open, three times each. He reached a career-high world ranking of World No. 1 in June 2010. His home club is Hallamshire Tennis and Squash Club in Sheffield which has named 'The Nick Matthew Showcourt' after him.
Shelley Celia Kitchen is a New Zealand professional squash player.
Cameron Pilley is an Australian former professional squash player. He reached a career-high world ranking of World No. 11 in January 2011.
Joe Ansbro is a former Scottish international professional rugby union player. He is the first player of African origin to represent Scotland at test level in history. His favoured position is centre. He most recently played for London Irish. After gaining 11 full international caps his rugby career ended due to serious neck injury at the age of 26.
Scotland were represented at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi. They used Flower of Scotland as its victory anthem for these games; replacing Scotland the Brave which had been in use since the 1950s. The change was decided by the Scottish athletes in a vote.
Canada competed in the 2010 Commonwealth Games which were held in Delhi, India from October 3–14, 2010. Canada competed in 15 out of 17 sports with the exceptions being netball and tennis. Canada's team consisted of 251 athletes, which was a decrease of 3 from the 2006 games. However, the events at these games were much more than they were in 2006. Several athletes withdrew due to safety concerns, including medal contenders Priscilla Lopes-Schliep, Perdita Felician and Dietmar Trillus. Ken Pereira, Captain of the Men's field hockey team, was named the flag bearer on September 18, 2010, becoming the first Indo-Canadian and field hockey player to receive the honour.
Christopher Thomas Adcock is a retired English badminton player. Adcock is currently sponsored by Yonex and YC Sports and plays for the University of Nottingham-based NBL team. He entered the National team in 2006, and later won the boys' doubles and mixed team titles at the 2007 European Junior Championships. He was a World Championships medalists winning a silver in 2011 with Imogen Bankier and a bronze in 2017 with Gabby Adcock. Together with Gabby, he also won a silver medal at the 2007 World Junior Championships, and then claimed the gold medals at the Commonwealth Games in 2014 and 2018; and at the European Championships in 2017 and 2018.
Alan Clyne is a Scottish former professional squash player. As of 2021, he was ranked at No. 38 in the world. He has won the Scottish National title ten times. He represented his country in the 2010 Commonwealth Games in both singles and doubles, and is the current Scottish number one, following in the footsteps of greats such as Peter Nicol and John White.
Alex "Tattie" Marshall is record breaking Scottish bowls player.
Campbell Grayson is a New Zealand retired professional squash player. He reached a career-high world ranking of World No. 24 in February 2020.
Hendri Kurniawan Saputra is an Indonesian-born Singaporean retired badminton player.
Canada competed in the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland from July 23 to August 3, 2014. It was the nation's 20th appearance at the Commonwealth Games, having competed at every Games since their inception in 1930. Canada competed in 16 out of 17 sports with the only exception being netball. Canada's team consisted of 265 athletes and 100 support staff, the largest team for a games not hosted by the country. On September 12, 2012 former Commonwealth Games medalist Chantal Petitclerc was named as the Chef de mission of the team, marking the first time a former para athlete was named to the post.
Georgina Kennedy is an English professional squash player. In August 2022, ranked number 8 in the world, she became the first Englishwoman to win a Commonwealth Games squash singles title. In September 2023, Kennedy achieved her highest world ranking to date: number 6.
Abbie Palmer is a New Zealand professional squash player. Her highest ranking was number 83 in the world in June 2018.
   | This biographical article relating to a Scottish squash figure is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
  | This biographical article relating to a British squash figure is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |