adminCollin Matiza Sports Editor
THE cobwebs will come off some of the country’s top squash players when they compete in the Belgravia Sports Club’s Club Championship in Harare this week. This tournament, which is set to run from tomorrow to Friday at the new home of squash in Zimbabwe — Belgravia Sports Club — is the 2014 season opener and is sponsored by Oldlock, the “bedding masters” in the sport in this country.
Mashumba Mukumba, one of the tournament’s organisers, said yesterday that this event will be used by some of the country’s top junior and senior players as part of their preparations for the 2014 season in which they will take part in a number of local and international competitions which include the Mashonaland and Zimbabwe Close Championships, the All-Africa Championships (in Nigeria in April) and the World Championships.
“This is our season-opener and the tournament is being sponsored by Oldlock and the company’s director, Hui Xing, is a member of Belgravia Sports Club and he is very enthusiastic about the growth of squash in this country and spreading it to the disadvantaged youths.
“Oldlock has also pledged to host or bankroll more and bigger squash tournaments in Zimbabwe. Oldlock has come in to support squash in this country through the Zimbabwe Squash Academy’s initiative and I am hoping to work well with our sponsor for the furtherance of squash’s future in Zimbabwe as a whole,” Mukumba said.
He said this week’s tournament, whose finals will be held on Friday night, has attracted more than 40 participants who are members of Belgravia Sports Club and the field includes three of the country’s top players Ahmed Hassan, Malvin Mubure and Mike Lawton.
In fact, Hassan, Mubure and Lawton are ranked among the top five squash players in this country. Promising female player Yvonne Mubure will also be taking part in this tournament where she will be joined by a number of other top male and female junior players.
“We are going to have A and B sections as well as mixed juniors and seniors at this tournament,” said Mukumba who is also the director of the Zimbabwe Squash Academy who are based at Belgravia Sports Club.
Meanwhile, Mukumba said the Zimbabwe Squash Academy Trust have entered their “A” side into the schools league for this year and “this shows how much we are committed to the sport”.
The academy’s players include the likes of Crispen Chimbowora, Covermore Mutata, Innocent Mukumba and Tafadzwa Mushunje who are all 17 years old.
“This year there will be a hive of activities in squash but our biggest challenge is that of sponsors, which is making it difficult for the sport to grow in this country.
“There are no (cash) incentives for both the players and coaches. We are trying our best as an association to make it grow and we are appealing for help from the corporate world, especially in the situation where we have a child selected to represent the country but is poor and we then end up sending those who can afford.
“We need help so that we do not demoralise our children,” Mukumba said.
The 2014 Squash Calendar
January 14-17: The Belgravia Sports Club Club Championships
January 31-February 2: Mashonaland Junior Closed Championships; Matabeleland Junior Closed Championships
May 1-4: South African Country Schools Festival (Bloemfontein)
May 7-11: South African Country Districts Seniors Tournament (Boland)
June 28-July 2: South African Schools Squash Inter-provincial tournaments – Under-19 (Paarl); Under-16 (East London); Under-14 (Johannesburg); Under-13 (Port Elizabeth); Under-11 (George).
July 4-11: World Masters (Hong Kong)
August 10-15: World Junior Boys and Girls’ individual championships (Windhoek, Namibia)
August 16-21: Junior Men’s Team World Championships (Windhoek, Namibia)
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