Forrest on fire in SA

NAMIBIAN under 19 squash player, Andrew Forrest, continued his excellent start to the squash season with an unbeaten run of seven matches against the top players from all over South Africa as the Namibian juniors took part in last weekend’s South African Schools Invitation squash event at Eunice School, Bloemfontein.

Playing in the event for the fifth time in seven years, and still a year young for his age group, Andrew defeated number one players from: Mpumalanga A, Mpumalanga B, South West districts, Northern District, Griquas, the North West Province and Northern Gauteng in the event that is used by the South African Schools squash association to select its team for the South African Team tournament later this year.
Andrew described his extraordinary feat, in which he only dropped five games out of 21 as, ‘superb,’ adding that he learned a great deal about being patient and staying focussed during his games.
He described his epic 3-2 victory over Jarryd Carter, the under 19 favourite from Mpumalanga (coached by former Namibian open winner John Lingashi) as the highlight of the weekend.
‘I played the best squash I had in a long time and it was very satisfying,’ he said of the match many spectators described as the pick of the tournament.
In the ladies event, Michelle Spencer had an excellent three days, winning five out of her seven games as the top Namibian under 19 girls player. Competing a year young, Danie Graaf did the same in the boys under 16 event.
He will be among the favourites to move up to play in the under 19 team next year.
However the Namibian ‘team of the tournament’ was undoubtably the boys under 13 A side of Michael van Lingen, Jaco Greeff, Le-Hugo van Rooyen and Phillip De Villiers who swept aside tough competition to dominate and eventually win their section.
Head coach, Tyc Kakehongo, bubbled with praise as he described the overall Namibian performance.
‘It was pleasing to see how all the players coped with a lot of squash in a short amount of time as much as three games a day for three days for some teams.’
He described Namibia’s continued participation in the event as vital for the continued development of the junior players. ‘It’s the highlight of the junior calendar as they get to experience tough competition which will help them to become better players.’
Kakehongo added that after this event the Namibian Squash association is, ‘ hoping to host an under 19 tournament event soon and to also give the under 13 boys further exposure at prestigious events in South Africa.’
Meanwhile Namibia’s top male and female players from all over the country are preparing to participate in the South Africa Country Districts in Paarl, South Africa scheduled for May 10-15.
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