Namibia’s men’s squash team has been in fine form at the South African Growthpoint Inter Provincial Tournament and yesterday booked a place in the semifinals of the C division after beating Easterns A 19-6.
That win ensured that they finished second in the Red group to book a semifinal spot against the top team of the Blue group, the South African Country Districts C team, while it also kept their chances alive of winning the group and gaining promotion to the B division for the first time in their history.
In their tie against Easterns A yesterday, four of Namibia’s five players won their matches.
Christoff Knoetze comfortably beat his opponent Jonno Kleynhans 3-0 (11-9, 11-7, 11-7), while Emile Dorgeloh made a fine comeback after losing the opening set to beat Warwick Blamey 3-1 (5-11, 11-4, 11-7, 11-3).
Namibia’s top-ranked player Max Endjala beat Easterns’ number one player Tafadzwa Tembo 3-1 (11-8, 11-13, 11-6, 11-9), while Namibia’s number two, Danie Greeff beat his Easterns counterpart, Pierce Robinson 3-1 (11-8, 4-11, 11-8, 11-8).
Le-Hugo van Rooyen was involved in a titanic battle, before losing a tough five-setter against Nicholas Holland (7-11, 13-11, 11-8, 11-13, 11-8).
Before yesterday’s matches, Northerns C were leading the group on 32 points, followed by Namibia on 29, KwaZulu Natal B on 20 and Easterns on 12 points.
In their opening match on Monday, Namibia went down 15-9 to Northerns C.
Namibia lost their opening three matches with Knoetze losing 3-1 to Barry Coetzee (12-10, 7-11, 11-3, 11-7); Dorgeloh losing 3-1 to Jason Phillips (11-7, 11-8, 8-11, 11-8); and Van Rooyen losing 3-1 to Ashwell Jenneker (11-8, 7-11, 11-5, 12-10).
Endjala and Greeff, however, both won their matches to ensure a close finish, with Northerns winning 10-9, but with the added five bonus points for the win, they won the tie 15-9.
Greeff beat Nathanael Nbebele 3-0 (11-2, 11-7, 11-6), while Endjala beat Nikhil Pather 3-1 (11-7, 11-5, 10-12, 11-4).
On Tuesday, Namibia beat Kwazulu Natal B 20-5 after winning all five their matches.
Knoetze had to pull out all the stops before beating Luke Bowley 3-2 (12-10, 13-11, 9-11, 11-13, 11-3), while Van Rooyen also had a tough five-setter before beating David Caine 3-2 (11-8, 1-11, 6-11, 11-8, 12-10).
The rest, however, found the going a bit easier, with Dorgeloh beating Steve Hughes 3-0 (11-7, 11-6, 11-7), Greeff beating Robby Moody 3-1 (11-5, 5-11, 11-8, 11-1); and Endjala beating Alex Holmes 3-0 (11-6, 14-12, 11-9).
Namibia will now face the top seeds in the group, SACD C in today’s semifinals starting at 09h00 and although they will start as the underdogs, they are aiming for an upset according to team captain Steven Berry.
“Our guys are playing really well and are very well prepared. Country Districts have much higher profile players, but we wil give it our all,” he said.
Today’s semifinal starts at 09h00 and can be followed via livestreaming at https://youtube.com/@NSANSA-squash
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