Muhwati squashes the competition

BLESSING MUHWATI is on fire.

The 22-year-old, who turned pro just five months ago, won his maiden Professional Squash Association tournament in Harare last week.

This year’s Zimbabwe Closed Championship was a PSA tournament, meaning players would get world ranking points. And Muhwati blew away his competition to land the trophy for the second time in his career and improve his world ranking to 389. The University of Johannesburg student said his latest victory was th sweetest yet.

“Not only was it the first PSA tournament in Zimbabwe, it was also the national championships and this time around I wanted to win for a different reason from when I won my first one. It was a whole new experience and I really felt an out of this world feeling,” said Muhwati. Muhwati turned pro in March, ranked 463, and through participating in various PSA tournaments in South Africa ended June ranked 401.

“Since I have turned professional I have learnt to play for myself and make myself proud. Before being a pro I played for other people as well,” said Muhwati, who is now UJ’s number one. The Zimbabwean squash ace is determined to lead is university team from the front.

“Every year we play inter-varsity national team championships and UJ has won it for the past six years and I have contributed in two of those triumphs.

“The latest win was extra special because I was playing as UJ’s number one player and that comes with some pressure,” said Muhwati, who plans to head to Australia next month for a couple of PSA tourneys.