Maiden squash show-piece draws near

The capital will awaken from its slumber as it hosts the maiden World Junior Squash Championship, welcoming prominent squash players from around the world. Team Namibia will field 11 top players in the tournament, competing against the creme de la creme of the world from 10-21 August on domestic soil at both Wanderers Sports Club and the Klein Windhoek Squash Courts. Namibia has six men and five women players set to battle it out in the individual event, to be followed by the Men’s World Junior Team Championships starting from 16-21 August, a historic first-ever for Namibia. Namibia was chosen to host the event in September last year and have thus far made remarkable progress and anticipates to attract a total of 167 credible players from across the globe from South Africa, Zimbabwe, Peru, Nigeria, Israel, Guatemala, Finland, New Zealand, England, Argentina, France, USA, Canada, Sweden, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Kuwait, Botswana, Ireland, Spain, Colombia, Qatar, Jordan, Switzerland, Papua New Guinea, Pakistan, Egypt and Malaysia. Championships Director, Tyc Kakehongo said the Local Organizing Committee is on track with the preparations and is confident that the country will stage a successful competition.

“The excitement is high and we are looking forward to hosting the first ever world championships teams event in our country,” he said. For the junior men, Gerhardus Lottering will sweat it out in the opener against James Evans from England, while Dylan Marc Spencer has been drawn against Mohammad Alsarraj from Jordan. Le Hugo van Rooyen of Namibia will face Edmond Lopez from Spain, and Carel Olivier goes up against Santiago Orozco from Colombia while Diederick Bekker will face Federico Cioffi from Argentina next. Namibia’s upcoming star, Kyle Kriel will face Colombia’s Nicolas Valderrama in his opener  with a view to impress in his first ever tournament on the world front. For the womens category, Nhadia Gustavo squares-off against Anandita Gupta of India, while Lida-Marie Calitz has a date with Papua New Guinea’s Lynette Vai, before Elsje van der Merwe comes in contention against Nadia Pfister of Switzerland.
Daniela Scriba is drawn against Germany’s Nele Hatschek as Alyssa Cummings will test Oludamnilola Oluwafemi of Nigeria.