Johannesburg, South Africa: The outstanding performance of the South African squash team at the World Squash Federation (WSF) Women’s World Team Championship in Egypt in December was recognized with a special presentation in Johannesburg at the weekend.
While Egypt and USA may have captured most of the plaudits at the event, they were far from the only teams to have impressed.
South Africa, who went into the tournament with only one full-time professional in Alex Fuller and were predicted to finish 12th, beat that prediction by three places.
The achievements of that week led to South Africa being recognized as the Team of the Tournament at the prize ceremony at Madinaty Sporting Club.
This weekend Squash South African national manager Jennifer Sawyer paid tribute to the squad’s efforts under the guidance of manager-coach Paul Atkinson. “For a group of players who are really amateurs, besides Alex, they did exceptionally well, and we are proud of their efforts,” Sawyer said. “We felt it would be appropriate to recognize the contribution they made to keep South Africa’s profile as a squash nation at a high level.”
After beginning their campaign with a 3-0 defeat to No 3 seeds England and a narrow 2-1 loss to Hong Kong, South Africa won all four of their remaining matches, recording straight-match wins over Ukraine and Switzerland and 2-1 wins against nine-time champions Australia and Japan.
In an interview at the time Atkinson said the Team of the Tournament award was highly encouraging for the players. “I think for us, winning this particular award is very special,” he said.
“Typically, South Africans have always been strong in the team events, both at the men’s and the women’s world champs, because we come from a rich team tradition from the Jarvis and Kaplan Cup interprovincial, which has been played for the last 55 years. “We’re used to playing in these team environments and we thrive on it. “But at the same time, none of our players are full-time professionals except for Alex Fuller. “So, we were always going to be under pressure against the other sides when three of our players play part-time and two of them are mothers with two and four kids each. “For us to come together as a team and really gel and play so well during the week together and then finish three positions higher than we were seeded, that’s something we’re very happy with. “I think it came down to a real team effort with our reserve [Hayley Ward] playing two matches and winning them both, and she is being the youngest in the team. “I think, when you have people who do not play full-time and they put in a lot of sacrifices and give up a lot of things to train hard to participate in a team event like this, and then the results show [the reward], it’s extremely satisfying and very proud for us as a small country. “It means a fantastic amount to the girls and to Squash South Africa, who funded us to get to the World Team Championship!”
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Photo credit: Reg Caldecott
Caption:
SA Women’s Squash team- The outstanding performance of the South African women’s squash team at the World Squash Federation (WSF) Women’s World Team Championship in Egypt in December was recognized by Squash South Africa with a special presentation made to the team and players in Johannesburg at the weekend. Pictured from left Alec Fuller, Cheyna Wood, Lizelle Muller and Hayley Ward.
SA Women’s Squash team 2- The outstanding performance of the South African women’s squash team at the World Squash Federation (WSF) Women’s World Team Championship in Egypt in December was recognized by Squash South Africa with a special presentation made to the team and players in Johannesburg at the weekend. Pictured from left Alec Fuller, Cheyna Wood, Lizelle Muller, Hayley Ward and Kyle Potgieter President of Squash South Africa.
Media contact:
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Siya Cele
+27 78 128 0706
This media release was sent out on behalf of Squash South Africa by BLD Communications.