adminwho plays his squash under Harare Sports Club, slipped out of the country last week to compete in the PSA Men’s World Championship in Doha.
And when he arrived in Doha, the 25-year-old player was thrown into the qualifying rounds of the championship where he met Briton Robbie Temple last Thursday.
Coming up against one of England’s top players was always going to be a tough call for Magwaza, who was easily beaten by Temple in straight sets.
According to reports from Doha, Magwaza was no match for Temple who sent him packing in 24 minutes, winning the one-sided qualifying rounds finals match 11-4, 11-7, 11-4.
Boasting a US$325 000 prize-fund — the second biggest in the sport’s history — the Qatar PSA Men’s World Championship is being hosted by Qatar for the third time, following previous stagings in 1998 and 2004, and is being held at the Khalifa International Tennis & Squash Complex.
Magwaza, who footed his own bill for the trip to Qatar, was making his debut appearance at the PSA World Tour’s premier event and he got a baptism of fire in his match against Briton Temple. The Harare Sports Club player left for the Men’s World Championship boasting a number of local titles, which he won this year.
In July, Magwaza lifted the Matabeleland Open title after beating Malvin Mubure, also from Harare, 3-1 in the final at Bulawayo’s Suburbs Squash Club.
A couple of weeks later, in the same month of July, Magwaza was back in Harare where he was crowned the 2012 Mashonaland Open champion after beating Alex Holmes 3-0 (11-6, 11-1, 11-3) in the final at Belgravia Sports Club.
Magwaza then re-asserted his claim as one of the best squash players in this country when he lifted the Zimbabwe Closed Championships title with a solid victory over Ahmed Hassan at the same venue in August.
Peter Tanyanyiwa
Online Reporter