Leilani Joyce
Encyclopedia
Leilani Joyce (born 15 April 1974, Hamilton, New Zealand
Hamilton, New Zealand
Hamilton is the centre of New Zealand's fourth largest urban area, and Hamilton City is the country's fourth largest territorial authority. Hamilton is in the Waikato Region of the North Island, approximately south of Auckland...
) is a former World No. 1 professional squash
Squash (sport)
Squash is a high-speed racquet sport played by two players in a four-walled court with a small, hollow rubber ball...
player from New Zealand. During her career, she won the British Open
British Open Squash Championships
The British Open Squash Championships is the oldest and most established tournament in the game of squash. It is widely considered to be one of the two most prestigious tournaments in the game, alongside the World Open The British...
in 1999 and 2000, and finished runner-up at the World Open in 2000 and 2001.
During a 12-year career on the international tour, Joyce won 16 WISPA
Women's International Squash Players Association
The Women's International Squash Players Association is an organization for female squash professionals. It is responsible for running the women's professional tour and the women's world rankings...
titles. She also won four New Zealand national titles. She was named "Māori Sports Person of the Year" twice, and "New Zealand Sportswoman of the Year" once.
As a junior player, Joyce won the New Zealand under-13, under-15, under-17 and under-19 championships, the Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n under-17 and under-19 championship, and the Oceania
Oceania
Oceania is a region centered on the islands of the tropical Pacific Ocean. Conceptions of what constitutes Oceania range from the coral atolls and volcanic islands of the South Pacific to the entire insular region between Asia and the Americas, including Australasia and the Malay Archipelago...
under-19 championship.
Joyce retired from the professional tour in 2002, after winning gold medals in both the women's doubles and mixed doubles at the Commonwealth Games
Commonwealth Games
The Commonwealth Games is an international, multi-sport event involving athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930 and takes place every four years....
.
Family
In 2002 she married Blair Rorani in the New Zealand Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They have four children.Now known as Leilani Rorani, the Rorani family lives in Wellington, New Zealand.