adminTHE University of Johannesburg knew they had captured a star in Zimbabwean squash player Blessing Muhwati. In announcing the capture of Muhwati in February this year, UJ described him as “a more than worthy addition to the team”.
The glowing welcome remarks meant the Zimbabwean, who turned 21 last Thursday, had to hit the court running.
And Muhwati hasn’t disappointed. Last week he was the main man as UJ won a fifth successive Inter-Varsity Championship crown.
The former Zimbabwe Open champion is clearly not regretting his decision to choose UJ ahead of several other institutions.
“It has always been my goal to pursue my squash at an elite level and also obtain a degree,” said Muhwati. “UJ and other universities had scholarship offers for me and I chose UJ because of their remarkable squash programme. I am doing a B tech in Business Management and life has been a breeze.”
The former Old Hararians captain wants a lengthy stay at UJ.
“It’s a four-year programme but I plan to stay here for five years because I want to do my honours, maybe master’s even. It makes me feel special to be part of the UJ family, especially contributing to the fifth Inter-Varsity championship title. I feel like I belong,” he said.
In the local league, Muhwati was known for a serious work ethic and an ever burning desire to win. That has not changed.
“I play first league for UJ, I have performed well winning most of my matches. Besides playing for the university I also play tournaments around South Africa. The university season will end in August then we start off-season training,” he said.
“Normally, I wake up to a two-hour gym session and then have lectures. After lunch I do my solo session for an hour and at night we have squad training for like two hours.”
Online Reporter