Endjala pushes Temitope all the way

Namibian squash fans were treated to some top-class matches when the BDO Namibia Squash Open got underway at the Wanderers courts on Wednesday. 

Most of the top seeds in the Professional Squash Association (PSA) tournment sailed through comfortably, but in the match of the evening, the men’s second seed Kehinde Samuel Temitope had to pull out all the stops before beating Namibia’s Max Endjala.

The 25-year-old Temitope, who is ranked secondin Nigeria and 284th in the world beat Endjala 3-0, but two of the sets could have gone either way before Temitope prevailed 11-9, 11-5, 11-9.

Endjala, who is ranked 831st in the world, in fact led the first set 9-6, but failed to capitalise as Temitope won five consecutive points to clinch the set, while he also pushed Temitope all the way in the third set, before losing the match.

Despite his defeat, Endjala gave the packed crowd plenty to cheer about with his speed and agility around the court, but afterwards conceded that his opponent was just better. 

“I tried to put everything I had into the system. The guy is really fit, and it’s the first time that I have played him. I saw him play at the African champs, but I never played him before and as much as I wanted to win, he was just the better player,” he said. 

“I tried to not make mistakes and I tried to keep him at the back, but it did not work. I tried everything, but he was just the better player, but hopefully next time when I meet him it’s going to be a different ball game,” he added.

Endjala said inexperience also led to his defeat. 

“When I got to nine points in the first set I realised that I could actually beat this guy, but for some reason panic mode kicked in and I just couldn’t finish it off. But this is one of the top matches that I’ve ever played and I think if I can get more experience at this level, I can perform much better,” he said. 

“The support was great, I loved it and if this can happen more often in Namibia or if we can travel more outside the country then it will boost our experience,” he added.

Temitope, meanwhile, congratulated Endjala on a great match, but added that he was struggling to adapt to the Namibian climate. 

“It was a fantastic game and I had to put in a big effort to win the match. Coming all the way from Nigeria, the weather is very different, so I had to find a way of coping which made the game more difficult for me, but I think subsequently I’ll be able to adapt more,” he said. 

“It’s not really a problem, it’s just that we arrived late yesterday and we haven’t really had much time to acclimatise and adapt, but I’m sure I’ll get used to it and perform better in the next match,” he added.

Most of the other top seeds in the Men’s PSA tournament comfortably progressed to the second round, with the only casualties being the fifth-seeded Faruq Sulaimon of Nigeria, who lost 3-0 to South Africa’s Luhann Groenewald, and the seventh seeded Namibian Arno Diekmann, who lost 3-0 to Diodivine Mkhize of South Africa. 

The top seed Abdelrahman Abdelkhalek of Egypt got abye to the second round; the third-seeded Gabriel Olufunmilayo of Nigeria beat Sipho Clifford of South Africa 3-1; the fourth-seeded Adegoke Onaopemipo of Nigeria beat Janre Olivier of Namibia 3-0; the sixth seed Damian Groenewald of South Africa beat Le-Hugo van Rooyen of Namibia 3-0; and the eighth seed, John Anderson of South Africa, beat compatriot Juan-Corne Brand 3-0.

The Women’s PSA event also event also went as expected with all the top seeds sailing through to the second round.

The top seed, Menna Walid of Egypt, who is ranked 103 in the world, beat Dene van Zyl of South Africa, who the also the defending champion, 3-0; number two Rofiat Abdulazeez of Egypt beat Namibia’s Chantel de Gouveia 3-3; number three Busayo Olutunji of Nigeria beat Vasti Oelofse of Namibia 3-0; and number four Amina El Rihany of Egypt beat Bianke Pienaar of South Africa 3-0.

In an age of information overload, Sunrise is The Namibian’s morning briefing, delivered at 6h00 from Monday to Friday. It offers a curated rundown of the most important stories from the past 24 hours – occasionally with a light, witty touch. It’s an essential way to stay informed. Subscribe and join our newsletter community.