Squash teams in fruitless All Africa Championships

By Collin Matiza
THE Zimbabwe A and B men and women’s squash teams recently returned home empty-handed from this year’s All-Africa Championships in Johannesburg, South Africa, where they both failed to get a top three podium finish.
The team, which was made up of seven male and three female players, played in the A and B sections of the five-day championships where they failed to make their presence felt against stiff opposition from fellow African sides such as Zambia, Egypt, Namibia, Mauritius, Nigeria and the hosts South Africa.
The Zimbabwe A side, which had five male players – Ishmael and Malvin Mubure, Murray Martin, Ahmed Hassan and Shaun MacKenzie – and a female player – Tara Ralphs – came sixth overall in their section which was won by South Africa A.
Zambia A finished second in the A Section of the tournament.
Alex Holmes, Admire Magwaza (both male players) and two female players Michelle Williams and Sherry Curle played for Zimbabwe in the B Section of the championships and came out seventh overall.
In the A Section, Zimbabwe played five matches against South Africa A, Zambia B, Namibia, Nigeria and Mauritius and they won only one of these matches against Mauritius 3-0.
Against South Africa A, Zimbabwe A were whitewashed 3-0 with Martin going down 3-0 to Rodney Durbach while Ishmael Mubure and Ralphs lost by the same scoreline to Steve Coppinger and Tenille Swartz respectively.
The Zimbabwe A team also came up against Zambia B and were edged 2-1 in a match in which Ralphs beat Namweene Muchaile 3-0 before Ishmael Mubure lost 3-0 Richard Twali and Martin went down by the same scoreline to Siame Sam.
There was also no joy for the Zimbabwe A side in their match against Namibia in which they lost 2-1 with Martin managing to win his tie against Norbert Dorgeloh 3-0.
Ishmael Mubure lost to Namibia’s Marco Becker 3-1 and Ralphs went down 3-0 to the other Namibian player, Isabell Schnoor.
Zimbabwe A also fell to Nigeria 2-1 in a match in which Ahmed Hassan, who had replaced Ishmael Mubure, lost 3-0 to Tunde Ayagbe and Ralphs went down 3-1 to Dasbak Longdi.
Zimbabwe A’s facesaver in this match came from Martin who beat Nigeria’s Sodiq Taiwo 3-1.
But the Zimbabwe A side managed to claim the scalp of Mauritius, beating the Indian Ocean islanders 3-0.
In their match against Mauritius, Zimbabwe A first fielded Malvin Mubure who beat Nicolas Mourga 3-0 before Ralphs beat Vanessa Florens by the same scoreline.
Mackenzie completed Zimbabwe A’s whitewash victory over Mauritius by beating Nadeey Hosenbux 3-0.
The Zimbabwe B team of Magwaza, Williams, Holmes and Curle  played five matches at the All-Africa Championships, losing four games against South Africa B (3-0), Zambia A (3-0), Zambia B 2-1 and Nigeria (2-0) before beating Mauritius A 2-1.
One of the Zimbabwe team members, Magwaza, said although they failed to return home with any silverware, the tournament was an eye-opener for them.
“The competition was not very tough but it exposed our level of competition here in Zimbabwe which is below par.
“But this was a very good exposure that left our minds open. We hope to continue training hard and we are quite sure that we will soon close the gap between us and the other African nations,” Magwaza said.
He also said that their aim now was to play more squash at international level overseas inorder for them to raise their standard of play.
“I personally think that we can’t develop while we continue playing squash here at home where the level of competition is very low,” Magwaza said.
His teammate Ishmael Mubure echoed the same sentiments.
“We need to relocate and maybe go and play in Europe and I think that’s the only way we can get better and be able to match the other top international squash players.
“Our main aim is to turn into real professional players and be able to represent Zimbabwe at major international tournaments with distinction,” Ishmael Mubure said.