Nele Gilis, (born 20 February 1996 in

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

) is a professional

squash Squash may refer to: Sports * Squash (sport), the high-speed racquet sport also known as squash racquets * Squash (professional wrestling), an extremely one-sided match in professional wrestling * Squash tennis, a game similar to squash but pla ...

player who represents

. She reached a career-high world ranking of World No. 12 in 2020.

Career overview

As a junior, Gilis had significant success and became well-established internationally. She was the

European Junior Squash Championships The European Junior Squash Championships are the event which serves as the European junior championship for squash players organised by the European Squash Federation. Past results Junior Individual Championships Boys U19 Girls U19 Ju ...

champion in 2014 and a semifinalist at the British Junior Open Squash 2015. Gilis clinched her first

PSA World Tour Sports competitions that are a recurring series of events or races, but do not constitute a sports league. Series Sports Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ...

title in 2016 at the Open International Des Volcans with a 3-1 win over

Amanda Landers-Murphy Amanda Landers-Murphy (born 7 June 1991 in Rotorua) is a New Zealand professional squash player. She reached a career-high world ranking of world No. 35 in February 2013. Of Māori descent, Landers-Murphy affiliates to Te Āti Awa Te Āti Awa ...

leading her to break into the world’s top 40. The next year Nele picked up her second title in the final of the Irish Open in five games against England’s Millie Tomlinson. Later in 2017 at the start of the season in September, she achieved the biggest result of her professional career at the PSA W25

Open International de Squash de Nantes The Open International de Squash de Nantes is an annual international squash tournament for professional players, held in Nantes in France in September. It is part of the PSA World Tour. The event was first held in 2015 in Le Lieu Unique. Histor ...

after reaching the final but coming up short against Englishwoman Fiona Moverley.

Personal life

Nele's younger sister,

Tinne Gilis Tinne Gilis (born 29 October 1997 in Mol) is a Belgian professional squash player. As of May 2022, she reached a career high ranking of number 13 in the world ''In the World'' is an album by jazz saxophonist Clifford Jordan which was recorded i ...

is also a professional squash player and her fellow competitor on the PSA World Tour. Her younger brother

Jo Gilis Jo Gilis (born 5 February 2000) is a Belgian professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder or a winger for OH Leuven and OH Leuven U23. Club career Gilis played his first match for OH Leuven on 14 April 2018, coming on as a subst ...

is a professional footballer in Belgium who has represented the Belgian national under-16 and under-17 football teams. Nele is currently in a relationship with professional squash player

Paul Coll Paul Daniel Coll (born 9 May 1992) is a professional squash player from New Zealand. In March 2022, he became the first New Zealand man to achieve a world ranking of World No. 1. He is the current British Open champion, having won this tourna ...

of New Zealand.

References

External links

* * * Belgian female squash players Living people 1996 births Competitors at the 2017 World Games People from Mol, Belgium Sportspeople from Antwerp Province {{Belgium-squash-bio-stub