Egypt reign supreme in Squash Championships

Brandon Moyo, Sports Reporter

SQUASH powerhouse, Egypt once again proved to be a force to reckon with in the sport after winning both the men and women’s individual accolades at the Squash Federation of Africa Senior Championships which concluded in Bulawayo on Friday.

The victory came after the North Africans won the team competition and continued their dominance in the individuals section. Both the final matches were all Egyptian affairs as it was contested for by their players only.

The men’s final was between Yasin Shafei and Khaled Labib which the former won 3-1. Hafei took the first game 11-4 only to see Khaled Labib race through the second 11-2. Shafei regained control and completely dominated the next two games 11-2 11-3 to win his first African crown.

Shafei had earlier booked his place in the final after edging South Africa’s number one, Dewald van Niekerk in what was one of the best matches of the tournament. His counterpart Labib beat team mate Sief Aishanaway also in a tough five game battle.

The women’s final was also a tightly contested affair between the Egyptian’s number two and three ranked players, Menna Walid and Kenzy Ayman with the former eventually capturing the title after a 3-1 win.

Ayman won the first game 11-3 only to see Walid level matters on her fourth set point at 15 -13. Walid wasted no time in winning the third game 11-3 and held match point at 10-9 in the fourth.

Gutsy play by Ayman had her clinch the game 13-11 to level at 2 games all. Points seesawed until seven all in the decider with Walid notching the next four points to also capture her first African title.

In the semifinals Ayman outplayed unseeded South African, Alexa Pienaar 3-0 with scores of 11-6 11-8 11-7. Pienaar had caused the upset in the quarterfinal when she defeated the second seed Nour Wageeh. In the second semifinal Menna Walid reversed the team match where she had lost to the South African number one. Walid won 3-1 recording scores of 11-9 7-11 11-7 11-3.

It was however, a tough day for Zimbabwe’s Ryan Gwidzima who lost his Classic Plate final against South Africa’s Damian Groenewald 3-0 with the scores of 11-3 11-7 12-10. Despite the defeat, Gwidzima is already looking forward to his next assignment as the tournament gave him exposure to the best in the game.

“I feel ready to play the next upcoming big tournament to bounce back, I have to go there and train much harder than I have done and I have learnt my mistakes, I have seen the best players play around the courts so I think I know what to do now,” said Gwidzima.

Squash Federation of Africa president, Lucky Mlilo, who is also Squash Racquets Association of Zimbabwe chairman said the event is a success for Zimbabwe as it was the first time hosting such a tournament since 2014 and is glad the way it went.

“The whole event has gone fine and I think for Zimbabwe it’s a success, we have held a tournament that hasn’t been held since 2014 in Namibia.

I’m glad that we have resuscitated this tournament and it has gone well in terms of play, obviously with every tournament there are a few issues here and there but it’s also a learning process. The other issue with African countries is funding, Funding has not been a good thing for most tournaments but I’m glad that the tournament has gone well,” said Mlilo.