Squash moves into top gear

AFTER a gap of four years, the Namibian Closed Championships, the premier squash event of the domestic season, returned to the Wanderers Squash Club last weekend.

Action also took place at the Klein Windhoek Squash Club, with Wanderers, as event host, hosting the final matches. The 2006 tournament boasted a men’s A division, men’s B division and a women’s division, attracting the country’s top squash players.For the first time in the history of the event, all the top players in the country were officially invited by the organisers and they responded well to the call.The format used for the tournament was 16-player Swiss Pairing, leaving all contestants with four matches.In 2006, MultiChoice Namibia became involved as a major sponsor of squash by being the main sponsor for not only the Namibian Closed Championships but also for the Namibian Open Championships.The Open Championships will be played from August 11 to 13 in Walvis Bay.The Namibian Closed tournament was played under the banner of DStv, with the Open schedule to be held under the MultiChoice flag.The organisers of the Namibian Closed event and the squash public wish to extend their heartfelt thanks to MultiChoice for their generosity towards a small, but growing sport.”A special word of thanks also to Kobus Bezuidenhout, general manager of MultiChoice Namibia, who took time out of his busy schedule to attend and support the event,” said a statement by the organisers of the tournament.”We will ensure that it will be a worthwhile commitment for many years to come,” it said.A total of 48 players took part in this year’s event, with 16 players contesting each of the three sections.”We were delighted by the keen attitude of all the competitors, as well as the sportsmanship displayed in general over the course of the weekend.Perhaps the best of all was the standard of play from the junior players who entered for this year’s tournament.With what we saw on the weekend, all bodes well for the future of squash in Namibia,” the statement further said.With most of the top players present, it came as no surprise that the top seeds in the men’s A and women’s divisions had an easy road to the final matches.John Lingashi and Jenny Pahl both play in a class of their own in their respective sections.Lingashi once again had no problem in defending his title against last year’s losing finalist, Andre Botha.After losing the first game by some margin, Jenny also recovered quickly to defeat Patricia Finley with ease in the women’s final.In what turned into the match of the tournament, the men’s B section final was contested between Jade Pepler, a 16-year-old junior from Walvis Bay, and Sven Gruttemeyer, a 17-year-old junior from Windhoek.After a long match that saw both players gaining and losing the upper hand, it was Pepler who came through in the end to win 3-2.It was a spectacular match, providing the capacity crowd with a match worth watching.In the men’s A section, the surprise of the tournament came in the second round when the seventh seed, Arno Becker, beat the second seed, Tyc Kakehongo, by three games to two in a tough contest between two old rivals.Becker then went on to push Andre Botha to the limit in the semi-final, before losing by three games to two, with the fifth game going to six points to four in the tie breaker.Not to be outdone, the 16-year-old Norbert Dorgeloh from Walvis Bay overcame tough opposition from Andre de Jager, beating the fourth seed to line up a semi-final with the experienced number one seed, Lingashi.Even though the match went 3 games to 0 to Lingashi, it was certainly not one-way traffic, making Dorgeloh a player to watch in the future.He beat Arno by 3 games to 0 in the playoff for third and fourth position.Another highlight of the event was the number of supporters present throughout the tournament.After getting used to seeing one or two people (usually the marker and the referee) on the pavilion at a match, there was an actively participating crowd cheering the players on at almost all the matches.This, linked to the rising number of junior players and women competing, is a clear indication of a revival of interest in squash.As recently as six years ago, only four women competed at the Namibian Closed tournament, but this time there were 16 women eagerly contesting the trophy, with the knowledge that there is still quite a number of women who were unable to make it on this weekend due to other commitments.The 2006 tournament boasted a men’s A division, men’s B division and a women’s division, attracting the country’s top squash players.For the first time in the history of the event, all the top players in the country were officially invited by the organisers and they responded well to the call.The format used for the tournament was 16-player Swiss Pairing, leaving all contestants with four matches.In 2006, MultiChoice Namibia became involved as a major sponsor of squash by being the main sponsor for not only the Namibian Closed Championships but also for the Namibian Open Championships.The Open Championships will be played from August 11 to 13 in Walvis Bay.The Namibian Closed tournament was played under the banner of DStv, with the Open schedule to be held under the MultiChoice flag.The organisers of the Namibian Closed event and the squash public wish to extend their heartfelt thanks to MultiChoice for their generosity towards a small, but growing sport.”A special word of thanks also to Kobus Bezuidenhout, general manager of MultiChoice Namibia, who took time out of his busy schedule to attend and support the event,” said a statement by the organisers of the tournament.”We will ensure that it will be a worthwhile commitment for many years to come,” it said.A total of 48 players took part in this year’s event, with 16 players contesting each of the three sections.”We were delighted by the keen attitude of all the competitors, as well as the sportsmanship displayed in general over the course of the weekend.Perhaps the best of all was the standard of play from the junior players who entered for this year’s tournament.With what we saw on the weekend, all bodes well for the future of squash in Namibia,” the statement further said.With most of the top players present, it came as no surprise that the top seeds in the men’s A and women’s divisions had an easy road to the final matches.John Lingashi and Jenny Pahl both play in a class of their own in their respective sections.Lingashi once again had no problem in defending his title against last year’s losing finalist, Andre Botha.After losing the first game by some margin, Jenny also recovered quickly to defeat Patricia Finley with ease in the women’s final.In what turned into the match of the tournament, the men’s B section final was contested between Jade Pepler, a 16-year-old junior from Walvis Bay, and Sven Gruttemeyer, a 17-year-old junior from Windhoek.After a long match that saw both players gaining and losing the upper hand, it was Pepler who came through in the end to win 3-2.It was a spectacular match, providing the capacity crowd with a match worth watching.In the men’s A section, the surprise of the tournament came in the second round when the seventh seed, Arno Becker, beat the second seed, Tyc Kakehongo, by three games to two in a tough contest between two old rivals.Becker then went on to push Andre Botha to the limit in the semi-final, before losing by three games to two, with the fifth game going to six points to four in the tie breaker.Not to be outdone, the 16-year-old Norbert Dorgeloh from Walvis Bay overcame tough opposition from Andre de Jager, beating the fourth seed to line up a semi-final with the experienced number one seed, Lingashi.Even though the match went 3 games to 0 to Lingashi, it was certainly not one-way traffic, making Dorgeloh a player to watch in the future.He beat Arno by 3 games to 0 in the playoff for third and fourth position.Another highlight of the event was the number of supporters present throughout the tournament.After getting used to seeing one or two people (usually the marker and the referee) on the pavilion at a match, there was an actively participating crowd cheering the players on at almost all the matches.This, linked to the rising number of junior players and women competing, is a clear indication of a revival of interest in squash.As recently as six years ago, only four women competed at the Namibian Closed tournament, but this time there were 16 women eagerly contesting the trophy, with the knowledge that there is still quite a number of women who were unable to make it on this weekend due to other commitments.