Namibian squash continues to show steady improvement after the national men’s side finished fourth in the C Division of the Jarvis Cup which was concluded in Mossel Bay over the weekend.
Namibia finished second in their group after beating Kwazulu Natal B and South Africa Country Districts D, while narrowly losing to Northerns C.
In the semifinals they once again narrowly lost to SACD C, before losing to Western Province C in the fourth place play-off.
Steven Berry the former chairman of Wanderers Squash Club said the performances underlined the improvement of Namibian squash over the past few years.
“To push the strongest teams in the division so close was fantastic and I think we have a very good idea of where we stand now. We can definitely see the improvement in Namibian squash over the past few years by exposing our players to top events like the BDO Namibian Open,” he said.
Competing in Pool B of the Men’s C Division, Namibia got off to a great start by winning all their matches in their opening two encounters against KwaZulu Natal B and South African Country Districts D.
Against KwaZulu B, Danie Greeff won 3-1, Francois Hanekom Junior won 3-2, Christof Knoetze won 3-0, Le-Hugo van Rooyen won 3-1 and Namibia’s top ranked player Arno Diekmann won 3-1.
They were even more impressive against SACD D with Diekmann, Greef, Hanekom and Knoetze all winning their matches 3-0, while Van Rooyen won 3-1.
On July 8, Namibia came up against the group favourites Northerns C, and in a terrific encounter narrowly went down 3-2.
Diekmann and Hanekom both won their matches 3-0, but Knoetze lost 3-0, while Greeff and Van Rooyen both lost 3-2 in matches that went down to the wire.
“Our boys faced one of the toughest teams in the competition, and although the result didn’t go our way, every single player left everything on the court and showcased the determination, fighting spirit and sportsmanship that Namibia is known for. Several matches could have gone either way, proving just how competitive this team has been throughout the tournament,” Berry said.
That put Namibia second in their group and through to the semifinals where they came up against the only unbeaten side in the tournament, SACD C.
Namibia rose to the occasion with some terrific performances as the tie once again went down to the wire.
Namibia took a 2-0 lead after Greeff won 3-1 and Hanekom 3-0, but SACD C drew level at 2-2 after Knoetze and Van Rooyen lost their matches 3-1 and 3-2 respectively.
In the deciding match, Diekmann gave a great performance, pushing his opponent all the way before suffering a 3-2 defeat as SACD C clinched the tie 3-2.
That put Namibia into the fourth place play-off against Western Province C where they lost 3-2.
WP C took an unbeatable 3-0 lead after Knoetze and Hanekom both lost 3-0, and Greeff lost 3-1, before Van Rooyen and Diekmann both won their matches 3-0.
Berry said their hard work had paid off.
“If you look at the overall performance of the team, you can see that their hard work paid off. We dominated against KwaZulu Natal B and SACD D, and then lost virtually off the last point against Northerns C. That put us into the semis against SACD C the heavy favourites to win the division and we got off to a great start, winning our first two matches. We just needed one more match to win the tie, but unfortunately we could not clinch it,” he said.
“We had an intensive training regime that already started in January with a squad of 12 players and you could see a big difference after all the hard work that the players put in. I think we now have a clear view of what we need to do to win the C Division,” Berry added.
