TWO new champions were crowned at the Namibian Squash Open Championships in Walvis Bay on Saturday after both the men and women’s defending champions lost their titles.
The defending women’s champion of England, Lauren Siddal lost 3-0 to South Africa’s Milnay Louw, while another South African, Christo Potgieter won the men’s title after beating defending champion Kelvin Ndhlovu of Zambia 3-0.
In the women’s final, Siddall, who has won the title a record four times, was no match against the determined Louw, who beat her in three straight sets.
Carin Pretorius took the bronze medal, while Adri Lambert and Marnel Redelinghuys finished fourth and fifth, respectively.
The women’s plate division went to Stephanie Wittmann while Chrystal Roos clinched the runners-up spot.
In the men’s final, Christo Potgieter won his third title after beating the top-seeded Kelvin Ndhlovu 3-0.
The South African gave a gutsy performance as he kept his cool under pressure, while forcing his opponent into making a lot of unforced errors.
Potgieter, winner of the event in 2012 and 2013, kept up the pressure and let out a triumphant scream when he won the second set.
By now Ndhlovu was clearly frustrated as he was forced to play catch up most of the time, while Potgieter seemed to have an answer for every trick he had up his sleeve, as he sprinted and moved across the court like a gazelle.
The Zambian finally realised that there was no way he could rescue the match as Potgieter reclaimed the title he lost to Ndhlovu in 2013 by also seizing the third and decisive set.
The bronze medal went to Manda Chilamba of Zambia, while Clifford de Witt came fourth and the gifted Kyle Kriel fifth.
The Men’s Open Plate also got a new winner after Angelo Titus beat his closest competitor Chisela Mulenga to the title.
The Men’s A division saw Steven Berry surprising all as he went on to win the title followed by Leslie Bosman (second), Phillia van Schalkwyk (third), Ian de Smit (fourth) and Dirk van Niekerk (fifth).
Christopher Hill was also in uncompromising mood as he defeated Bradley Morkel in the Men’s B Division final, with Ettienne Beukes finishing third, Sam Webster fourth and Heino de Wee fifth.
In other action Arno Dickmann took the Men’s A Plate section with Socrates Muyomba finishing second.
Ockie du Plessis appeared too strong for the other competitors in the Men’s B Plate section with Franco Lambert finishing as the runner-up.
Altogether 16 women and 48 men entered the competition, which also attracted eight players from South Africa, three from Zambia and two from Zimbabwe this year.
The event, which is the eighth edition sponsored by The Namibian newspaper, kicked off on Friday at two venues, the Wasra (Walvis Bay Municipality Recreational Club) and at the Buccaneers Squash Club, where the finals were contested on Saturday.
