Squash feast set for November 

Namibian squash lovers are in for a treat in November when the BDO Namibian Open and the Trustco All Africa Senior Championships will be hosted at Wanderers Squash Club.

At a function last week, Wanderers Squash Club chairman Steven Berry said the tournaments, which will run concurrently from 12 to 24 November, had been sanctioned by the World Squash Federation and with record ranking points up for grabs, some of the world’s top players are expected to be in action.

The Namibian Open, with BDO as the main sponsor and Africa Powerline as a co-sponsor, will be held from 12 to 16 November, with world ranking points to the value of US$9 000 up for grabs.

“This means that we will be able to attract some of the best players Namibia has ever seen. Last year, we had South Africa’s number two, Damian Groenewald, playing against one of Nigeria’s top players, Adegoke Onaopemipo, in the final. But this year I can promise you we are going to have much stronger players here. We will have guys like Dewald van Niekerk, South Africa’s number one, making his way here; Arno Diekmann, one of Namibia’s top players, will be coming down from The Netherlands; and we’ve got players from all over Europe and Asia that will definitely be coming down for the event,” Berry said.

“We will have two weeks of squash that you can’t believe, it’s literally like the world cup of squash that is going to be hosted here in Windhoek during November,” he added.

The All Africa Senior Championships will be held from 18 to 24 November, with the main sponsor, Trustco, having announced a sponsorship of N$80 000.

With world ranking points to the value of US$15 000 up for grabs, it is expected to attract top players from around the world.

“The ranking points that the players will get at the African Championships will be better than ever, meaning that whether you are from Egypt, South Africa, Nigeria or Kenya, everyone will want to play in this tournament because it will have a significant effect on their world rankings,” Berry said.

“The Namibian team will also compete in this tournament and we guarantee that our players will be the best prepared that they have ever been. If Namibia loses anything, it’s definitely not going to be because they were underprepared,” he added.

According to Berry, an extended national squad with reserves has already started training to get the players in shape.

“We want to make sure that all the reserves are just as prepared should anyone get injured, so we started a high performance programme three weeks ago to make sure that our top players are ready for the Namibian Open,” he said.

“There will be some strong competition, with countries like South Africa, Egypt, Nigeria, Kenya, Zambia and Zimbabwe, and our goal is to finish above Zambia and Kenya. We are going to make sure that we are as ready and prepared as possible to do that,” he said, adding that the Namibia Squash Association had appointed former top Namibian player Andrew Forrest as the national coach.

Forrest said it was a massive honour and vowed that the team will be ready.

“To be selected to play for your country is a privilege and an honour. Put the work in, give it your all, and at the end of the day you will reap the benefits. We want to compete against our neighbours, we want to give it our all and to have this tournament on our home ground will give us the upper hand. All I can say is that our players will be ready and I’m going to make sure of that.”

The national squad is as follows:

Men: Le-Hugo van Rooyen, Brandon Grane, Max Endjala and Christoff Knoetze (reserve). The non-official reserves are Norbert Dorgeloh, Trevor Grane and Steven Berry.

Women: Lientjie Koekemoer, Charne Fourie, Adri Lambert and Zantie Hansen (reserve). The non-official reserves are Chantelle de Gouveia and Jackie Steenkamp.