Cape Town, Western Cape: Top seed Damian Groenewald sent an early warning to his rivals as he romped to two impressive victories on the opening day of the Growthpoint SA Junior Nationals squash tournament at the V & A Waterfront in Cape Town on Thursday.
The Northerns player is competing in the U19 division and was quick off the mark despite having to play twice on the opening day. He first overcame Boland’s Daniel Cloete in the morning and then repeated that 3-0 result when he took on KwaZulu-Natal’s Nikhil Pather in the afternoon.
In another extremely well-contested U19 boys’ encounter, Western Province (WP) Junior, Seth Flisberg, the U17 runner-up in 2021, shrugged off the loss of the first game to edge Diodivine Mkhize (Joburg Squash) in four games.
Despite the final result, Mkhize fought all the way in one of the matches of the day before succumbing 4-1111-9 12-10 11-8.
The nationals got off to a lively start as the cream of the South Africa’s young players displayed their talents on the all-glass court at Cape Town’s iconic Waterfront.
Besides the boys’ U19 section, which consists of five players and will be contested on a round-robin format, the boys’, and girls’ U15, U17 and U19 sections were involved in playoffs on the opening day.
Following the final match, the players were split into pools, with the winners advancing to pool A and the remaining players contesting pool B in a round-robin over the next three days.
In the feature match of the girls’ U19 division Northerns top seed Awande Malinga was also impressive as she outclassed Easterns’ Stephanie Jones 3-0.
There was plenty of intense competition during the day and some minor surprises.
One of these came from Hector Durbach in the boys’ U17 group, who entered the tournament as the sixth seed. However, the WP player he showed good control from the start to outplay third seed Judah Phillips (Northerns) in three games.
There was another terrific contest in the U17 boys when Northerns player Patrick Weir, seeded five, came up against No 4 Matthew Earl, of Border.
After winning the first game, Weir seemed in danger of losing when Earl seized the advantage by winning the next two games 11-5 11-4.
They players then became involved in a titanic struggle in the fourth, Weir eventually taking it 12-10, and he rode that momentum to an 11-8 margin in the decider to win 3-2.
In the U15 girls, Northerns fifth seed Starla Phillips earned her spot in pool A by beating No 4 Amy Shannon (Joburg Squash) in three games.
U17 fifth seed Bianke Pienaar (Joburg Squash) also worked her way into the top section with a good 3-1 win over Chante Leppan of Northerns, seeded four.
The programme will continue Friday, with another full day of matches. The tournament will conclude on Sunday afternoon.
Thursday’s results were:
Girls
U15: 1-Elzandri Janse van Rensburg (Northerns) bt 8-Riley Slade (WP) 3-0 (11-2 11-4 11-3), 2-Makayla Naidoo (KZN) bt 7-Rebecca Vos (Boland) 3-0 (11-3 11-9 11-7), 3-Kate van Biljon (Border) bt 6-Anushka Janse van Rensburg (Northerns) 3-0 (11-6 11-6 11-3), 5-Starla Phillips (Northerns) bt 4-Amy Shannon (Joburg Squash) 3-0 (11-9 11-5 11-8)
Pool A: E Janse van Rensburg, Naidoo, Van Biljon, Phillips
Pool B: Slade, Vos, A Janse van Rensburg, Shannon
U17: 1-Dene van Zyl (WP) bt 8-Namratha Niranjan (Northerns) 3-0 (11-2 11-3 11-4), 2-Cevana Naidoo (KZN) bt 7-Sasha Earl (Border) 3-0 (13-11 11-4 11-4), 3-Cara Knott (Border) bt 6-Anel Marais (Boland) 3-2 (11-6 9-11 11-6 12-14 11-6), 5-Bianke Pienaar (Joburg Squash) bt 4-Chante Leppan (Northerns) 3-1 (7-11 11-6 11-4 11-7)
Pool A: Van Zyl, Pienaar, Naidoo, Knott
Pool B: Niranjan, Leppan, Marais, Earl
U19: 1-Awande Malinga (Northerns) bt 8-Stephanie Jones (Easterns) 3-0 (11-4 11-1 11-2), 2-Rachel Shannon (Joburg Squash) bt 7-Erin Powers (EP) 3-0 (11-4 11-9 11-4), 3-Ashton Weir (Northerns) bt 6-Rebecca Glanvill (WP) 3-0 (11-9 11-3 11-7), 4-Nicola Bentley (KZN) bt 5-Jeanne Craig (Northerns) 3-0 (11-5 11-4 11-6)
Pool A: Malinga, Bentley, Shannon, Weir
Pool B: Craig, Jones, Glanvill, Powers
Boys
U15: 1-Juan-Corne Brand (Northerns) bt 8-Aiden McNeill (KZN) 3-0 (11-3 11-4 11-4), 2-Christian Swanepoel (Boland) bt 7-Savata Nkuna (Joburg Squash) 3-0 (11-1 11-4 11-4), 3-Benji Newman (EP) bt 6-Juan van der Merwe (Border) 3-1 (11-8 11-5 11-9), 4-Thomas Boutall (WP) bt 5-Joseph Myers (Northerns) 3-0 (13-11 11-7 11-9)
Pool A: Brand, Swanepoel, Newman, Boutall
Pool B: Myers, McNeill, Van der Merwe, Nkuna
U17: 1-Connor Earl (Border) bt 8-Russell Jones (Joburg Squash) 3-0 (11-4 11-3 11-3), 2-Devon Osborne (Boland) bt 7-Matt Mason (KZN) 3-0 (11-5 11-5 11-9), 6-Hector Durbach (WP bt 3-Judah Phillips (Northerns) 3-0 (11-7 11-5 11-7), 5-Patrick Weir (Northerns) bt 4-Matthew Earl (Border) 3-2 (11-7 5-11 4-11 12-10 11-8)
Pool A: C Earl, Weir, Osborne, Durbach
Pool B: M Earl, Jones, Phillips, Mason
U19: 1-Damian Groenewald (Northerns) bt 5-Daniel Cloete (Boland) 3-0 (11-7 11-5 11-4), 2-Seth Flisberg (WP) bt 3-Diodivine Mkhize (Joburg Squash) 3-1 (4-11, 11-9 12-10 11-8), 1-Damian Groenewald (Northerns) bt 4-Nikhil Pather (KZN) 3-0 (11-3 11-3 11-6)
Ends
FREE TO USE PICTURES
Captions
Junior Nationals 2022 Seth flisberg left v Diondivine Mkhize: seed Seth Flisberg of WP, left, reaches for a drop shot during his match against Diodivine Mkhize of Joburg Squash on the opening day of the Growthpoint SA Junior Nationals squash tournament at the V & A Waterfront in Cape Town on Thursday.
Junior Nationals 2022 Damain Groanewald left v Daniel Cloete: Top seed Damian Groenewald of Northerns, left, plays a forearm during his match against Daniel Cloete of Boland on the opening day of the Growthpoint SA Junior Nationals squash tournament at the V & A Waterfront in Cape Town on Thursday.
Picture credits: Carl Fourie
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