Evergreen Murray squashes rivals

 

AT 44, Martin Murray’s agility on the squash court is amazing. Ask men less than half his age.

He was at his best a fortnight ago as he bagged a maiden Zimbabwe Closed Championship title after defeating the favourite, Blessing Muhwati.

Murray beat 20-year-old Muhwati 3-0 (11-6, 11-8, 11-8) at St John’s College in Harare.

After playing second fiddle to Muhwati over the past two seasons, it all came together for Murray in the final.

“It felt really good,” said the veteran, who has been playing squash for 24 years, adding that this was not about revenge but “just about playing my best squash”.

“I think my form has improved over the season. I started out, probably, not playing as well as I would like. I was hampered by some injury, but then as the season progressed I started playing better and better.”

After this triumph, Murray has turned his focus on winning the Mashonaland Squash Rackets Association title with his log-leading side St John’s.

“Our season has been good, we have fielded our strongest team for most of the matches and that has been paying dividends. At the moment we lead the league table, but in sport you can never tell until the final whistle blows as they say.

“We are in a good position and hopefully our team members can remain injury free and we can finish the season at the top,” said the former Zimbabwe international, whose side will face Belgravia B and Princes in their last two matches.

Murray, who represented Zimbabwe at the 2002 Commonwealth Games in the United Kingdom, revealed that cricket was his first love.

However, being the son of former Zimbabwe squash international, Kevin Murray, there was no way he could have avoided the court.

“However, I didn’t get serious with it until I was 17 and at Peterhouse (High School). I heard there was a squash tour so I decided to give it a shot and was happy to make the tour.

“When I was at university (in South Africa) I tried to pursue cricket but it was time consuming so I turned back to squash because it takes less time than cricket.”

The tough economic environment has suffocated efforts to develop the game, added Murray, the father of three – including Aedan, a member of the Zimbabwe Under-14 team.

“Hopefully that will improve but at the moment we have got to do our best to provide as much opportunity as we can for our players especially the youngsters.”