adminFaisal Hassan, Alex Roscoe and Blessing Muhwati shared the top prize in the boys Under-19 section after they all emerged from this two-day tournament, which was played on a round-robin basis, tied on 19 points.
The tournament’s organiser, Mashumba Mukumba, said they could not come up with one winner in the boys Under-19 section because Hassan, Roscoe and Muhwati “refused” to play in the play-offs.
“These three young players played a total of seven matches during this tournament and when they all finished tied on 19 points, they refused to play in the play-offs, where we could have come up with the overall winner, because they were tired.
“So we had no choice but to let them share the top prize,” Mukumba said.
But they were no such problems in the girls Under-19 section where Yvonne Mubure came out tops with 20 points, beating Chloe Rosa (18 points) and Carley Barton (15 points) into second and third places.
In fact, it seems as if squash runs in the Mubure family as Yvonne is the sister of two of the country’s top players Ishmael and Marlvin Mubure.
The boys Under-16 title went to Bryn Turk who amassed 20 points, one ahead of second-placed Innocent Mukumba while third place went to Takunda Maswi (17 points).
Callum Lawton picked up 17 points as he walked away with the boys Under-14 title, snatching it from Keeghan D’Silva (11 points) and Mahir Bhagat (10 points).
Young Polite Mubure also showed that he was a star in the making when he registered eight points to lift the boys Under-11 title ahead of Roy Jambo (six points) and Malcolm Mushunje (four points).
Luke Mannion clinched the boys Under-13 title after amassing 12 points, two ahead of second-placed Miguel Roscoe while third place went to Franklin Jaison (nine points).
Mukumba said the G-Tel # Advermark junior squash challenge tournament was a great success and most of the matches were tightly-contested.
“The games were played on a round-robin basis and the winner was determined by the number of points he or she got. The round-robin format gave the kids a fair opportunity to play each other even though they had to play too many matches.
“We ended up reducing the number of matches for the Under-19s from best-of-five to best-of-three sets because they play longer rallies and they stay long on court.
“I would like to thank all the parents/guardians of the children who took part in this tournament because without them we would not have succeeded in staging this great tournament.
“I would also like to thank our sponsors G-Tel # Advermark for coming on board to help us run this tournament.
“The performance of the players at the tournament was excellent and there are several changes according to the Zimbabwe junior rankings which shows commitment and competence by the juniors,” Mukumba said.
He also said that he was now looking forward to staging a bigger and better tournament in future.
“It was a total surprise to most people who watched this tournament because of the high level of play that was displayed by some of the junior players.
“This tournament was staged to prepare for match situation for our juniors going to the South African Inter-provincial tournament to be held from June 23-27.”
Meanwhile, Nqobani Palane, the group chief executive of Advermark, congratulated all the winners and participants who took part in the weekend’s tournament at Premier Belgravia Sports Club.
“We would like to congratulate all the participants and winners of the G-Tel # Advermark 2012 junior squash challenge tournament.
“We are all winners alike when we work with one goal to develop our youth into champions. We would like to thank the organisers for allowing us to participate and give our small contribution, we thank God for this,” Palane said.
He also said that for the coming years Advermark will commit itself to the development of squash in this country and “we will pour resources into the sport and
youth, especially those who play squash”.
“We understand and believe that a country is its people and its people doing well, hence our focus to assist in its development, trusting that we are creating future Olympic gold medallists and other accolades alike.
“By doing this, a nation’s pride is built. We also thank G-Tel for coming on board to partner this endeavour and encourage other corporates to take part in sport and its development,” Palane said.
And in another development, the Mashonaland League has started with most clubs participating from the First to the Fifth League.
On the other side of squash development, Mukumba will soon be introducing the sport to schools in the high-density suburbs where there is talent but no squash.
“So far I am training Glen View 5, 7, and Simudzirai primary schools.
“The headmasters, sportsmasters and children are showing great interest in the sport and they are practising twice a week.
“They are also regularising squash like any other sport and this is what we look forward to in future towards the spread of the sport,” Mukumba said.
The schools travel to Premier Belgravia Sports Club for their training sessions and Mukumba said they intend to establish other centres for training as they spread their wings.
“With the sponsors on board, the goal of the Zimbabwe Squash Academy Trust to revive and spread the game of squash to all is going to be a success, especially to the disadvantaged,” Mukumba said.
Online Reporter