Nortjé cleans up at squash doubles at Wanderers

CARLA Nortjé picked up winner’s medals in both the mixed and ladies’ events at the Avril Payment Solutions-sponsored doubles tournament this weekend at the Wanderers in Windhoek.

With partner Ruan De Villiers, Nortjé managed to see off favourites Dries Tredoux and Adri Lambert, (flying in from South Africa, where they had been representing Namibia in the Country Districts event) in a tight final 15-10, 15-6.
‘It was close but they made a few too many mistakes,’ Nortjé observed afterwards, delighted with her win.
Tredoux conceded that he and Lambert struggled with the demands of playing a week’s worth of tough competition prior to the event and that his body was weary and ‘three days off doing nothing’ were on the cards.
In the ladies final Nortjé, partnered by Stiene Van Rooyen, faced the relatively inexperienced duo of Tereas Louw and Willer Brommer. Although full of running and fight, Louw and Brommer made too many unforced errors and showed their lack of top-level game exposure in a 15-12, 15-10 defeat to hand Nortjé her second final win of the day.
‘I haven’t played for three weeks so I am really pleased,’ she said afterwards before adding that she intended to spend the rest of the weekend recuperating in bed.
In the men’s doubles event the top-billed pair in each qualifying group, Ruan De Villiers and Sven Gruttemeyer and Michau Basson and Dries Tredoux, duly qualified for the men’s final.
In a game that saw youth and enthusiasm confront cat-like reactions and guile as well as endless running, Basson and Tredoux eventually triumphed over their younger counterparts 15-4, 10-15, 15-11.
An unusually tired-looking Basson was delighted at the win. ‘It was intense, but a lekker game,’ he said.
Presenting the awards to the winners was Hardus Viljoen, MD of Avril Payment Solutions, who was enthusiastic about the tournament. He hopes to return and sponsor next year.
‘I like this sort of competition. It’s not just about the top players winning, but more of a really entertaining social event with people having fun and enjoying themselves.’
chrisbuckland
@rocketmail.com