Junior squash team ready for World champs

A SIX-MEMBER Zimbabwe team will next week leave for the World Junior Squash championships to be held in Chennai, India.

BY FREEMAN MAKOPA


The annual Under-19 event is scheduled to run from July 18-29 with 28 countries set to battle it out for honours.

Zimbabwe will compete with other nations such as Argentina, Australia, Canada,Colombia, Czech Republic, Egypt, England, Finland, France, Germany, HongKong, Iran, Ireland, Macau, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Pakistan, Poland, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Scotland, Singapore, South Africa, Switzerland, the US, and the hosts.

Zimbabwe Squash Association spokesperson Admire Magwaza said they have selected a strong member team that he is hopeful of returning home with some medals.

“We have chosen the best players in the country which includes four boys and two girls and given the rigorous training they went through, we expect a lot from them and we hope they will bring back glory,” Magwaza said.



“The boys are playing in both the individual and team events while the girls are only taking part in the individual event,” he said.

Magwaza said the selected teams have also participated in the South African IPT tournament in preparation for the world event.

“I think the teams are ready to rumble since they have been competing in different tournaments and they even participated at the recently held IPT tournament which was held in South Africa. I would like to thank the sponsors who have come to our aid, sponsors like CBZ, BOC Gases, FedEx and Belgravia Squash Club.

The squad will be under the mentorship of experienced coaches who are also former squash players.

They were selected at the Zimbabwe junior closed tournament and all players play in the local schools league which runs throughout the year.

The team

Boys: Ethan Porter (St Georges College), Tayne Turnock (Hellenic Academy), Harry Lawton (Hellenic Academy) Aedan Martin (St Johns College)

Coach: Blessing Muhwati (Zimbabwe No1 player)

Girls: Polite Mubure (Girls High School, Harare), Hannah Mannion (Hellenic Academy)