Two national squash titles for local stars from Pretoria
Both the junior and senior titles for men were won by local stars from Pretoria at the recent national squash championship.
Two local squash stars, Dewald van Niekerk (senior) and Luhann Groenewald (junior), both walked away with the titles in their respective divisions at the recent national championships.
Van Niekerk won the men’s title in his first appearance in the final after a titanic one-hour duel with former mentor Christo Potgieter 3-1.
Although he competed during the championship under the banner of the South African Country District team, Van Niekerk has been involved with the Centurion Junior Squash club for many years, where he is also a very popular coach these days.
Van Niekerk’s sister, Lizelle Muller, was also crowned women’s champion. She now lives in the Eastern Cape.
Photo: Carl Fourie/BLD Communications
The tournament finale provided a celebration of squash, highlighting the young talent coming through, as well showcasing the role played by some of South Africa’s senior players in the sport.
Van Niekerk was made to work all the way by the energetic defending champion and even when he led 8-1 in the fourth, Potgieter refused to go away.
The second seed pulled back to 8-8 before the game went to 10-10, and finally Van Niekerk took the title with his fourth match point.
– In the u.17 finals played earlier in the afternoon, Luhann Groenewald of Northerns was crowned the boys’ champion. Top seed Groenewald was pushed all the way by Seth Flisberg (WP) with the match going to five games. Groenewald eventually won 3-2.
Photo: Carl Fourie/BLD Communications
With the home crowd behind him, Flisberg delivered a remarkable comeback after the two-handed Groenewald had swept through the first two games in just 13 minutes.
Tightening up his game and producing the type of winning shots he is so capable of, Flisberg levelled the match as Groenewald grew increasingly agitated.
In the end though, the Northerns player said his coach had urged him to stay focused and, keeping his composure, he was able to regain his accuracy to control the pattern of the deciding game.
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