SOUTH Africans Christo Potgieter and Milnay Louw won the Namibia Open Squash Championships men’s and women’s singles titles yesterday.
Potgieter defeated favourite Kelvin Ndhlovu from Zambia 3-1 in a thrilling final at Wanderers. Potgieter, the showman, produced a stunning squash display to come from behind and beat the Zambian ace. Having lost the first set, Potgieter turned on the style and wore down his opponent to take the next three sets. In the women’s Cup final, Louw had little trouble in beating Karen Pretorius 3-0. The much younger Louw proved to be much fitter and faster than her Namibian counterpart to gain a comfortable victory. Both winners, who received floating trophies and N$8 000 each, expressed their gratitude to the event organisers for having invited them to participate.’It was a great tournament and I enjoyed playing here,’ said Louw. Potgieter said: ‘Thank you for your hospitality. The competition was well organised and competitive.’Louw, along with Sonica Fritz, who has also been in the top ten rankings in South Africa from 2008 to 2010, will travel to the coast where they will conduct a workshop for squash juniors.Namibia Squash Association patron Gwen Litser was also happy with the tournament’s proceedings. More than 130 players from Namibia, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia and Kenya competed in the event. ‘Squash in Namibia cannot thrive without competition,’ she said. ‘It was wonderful to see regional interaction. Our players, especially the youngsters, benefited a lot from playing against these top players.’
