The inaugural Total Squash East London Open was competed over the past weekend with the best squash players in the region going all out for glory.
Thirty players took part, battling it out in the A and B divisions, and in the end East Londoner and Stellenbosch student Jojo Shean came out as the overall champ, taking the A section title and R5000 cash prize, while Andrew Burger emerged victorious in the B division.
“It was a fantastic tournament and a very good starting point to get squash back up and running in East London,” said tournament director Timothy Leeuw.
“We are starved of competition here in the city, so we need these events to help our
players get better and play competitively on a regular basis.”
The finals were played on Sunday at Cambridge squash club and number one seed Shean came up against the tournament number two seed and Border champion Kelvin Edwards in the final.
It was a great back and forth match, with Shean usually managing to just stay ahead of Edwards throughout the match. However, at two games each it was anyone’s match in the fifth game.
Towards the halfway point Edwards managed to take a 8-6 lead. However, Shean fought back to level up at 9-all.
Edwards then inched back ahead, giving him matchpoint, but Shean would not relent and fought back to take the match 12-10 to become the first winner of the Total Squash East London Open.
“The final was a very good way to end the tournament. It doesn’t get any more exciting than that,” said Leeuw.
“It was a great advert for squash in the city.”
The B section final was a similar affair as Burger and Craig Smith found themselves level-pegging at two games all and the ball was in anybody’s court.
However, Burger managed to edge the final game 11-9 to win an extremely competitive final.
The open started last week Thursday, attracting players from as far as Queenstown to play in it, with matches held at squash clubs across East London.
“Day one was filled with surprises in the B section, with the juniors making mincemeat of their older opponents,” said Leeuw.
The quarterfinals saw the top seeds breeze through their matches as Shean and Edwards took comfortable wins over Lionel Cronje and Leeuw respectively.
“The match of the day, however, was between longtime rivals 17-year-old Adam Shean and 18-year-old Hayden Worth, with the two youngsters battling for over an hour, with Hayden taking a 2-0 lead before Adam clawed his way back to win
3-2,” said Leeuw.
The semifinals in both sections went according to seeding as Shean easily dispatched younger brother Adam 3-0, while Edwards had to fight to keep his title hopes alive with a 3-2 win against Queenstown’s Jimmy van Niekerk.
In the B section top seed Andrew Burger beat Peter Townes 3-0 and Craig Smith fought back from 1-0 down to beat Deon Poortman.
This set up the finals which concluded the tournament.
Court masters raise the roof
Thirty players took part, battling it out in the A and B divisions, and in the end East Londoner and Stellenbosch student Jojo Shean came out as the overall champ, taking the A section title and R5000 cash prize, while Andrew Burger emerged victorious in the B division.
“It was a fantastic tournament and a very good starting point to get squash back up and running in East London,” said tournament director Timothy Leeuw.
“We are starved of competition here in the city, so we need these events to help our
players get better and play competitively on a regular basis.”
The finals were played on Sunday at Cambridge squash club and number one seed Shean came up against the tournament number two seed and Border champion Kelvin Edwards in the final.
It was a great back and forth match, with Shean usually managing to just stay ahead of Edwards throughout the match. However, at two games each it was anyone’s match in the fifth game.
Towards the halfway point Edwards managed to take a 8-6 lead. However, Shean fought back to level up at 9-all.
Edwards then inched back ahead, giving him matchpoint, but Shean would not relent and fought back to take the match 12-10 to become the first winner of the Total Squash East London Open.
“The final was a very good way to end the tournament. It doesn’t get any more exciting than that,” said Leeuw.
“It was a great advert for squash in the city.”
The B section final was a similar affair as Burger and Craig Smith found themselves level-pegging at two games all and the ball was in anybody’s court.
However, Burger managed to edge the final game 11-9 to win an extremely competitive final.
The open started last week Thursday, attracting players from as far as Queenstown to play in it, with matches held at squash clubs across East London.
“Day one was filled with surprises in the B section, with the juniors making mincemeat of their older opponents,” said Leeuw.
The quarterfinals saw the top seeds breeze through their matches as Shean and Edwards took comfortable wins over Lionel Cronje and Leeuw respectively.
“The match of the day, however, was between longtime rivals 17-year-old Adam Shean and 18-year-old Hayden Worth, with the two youngsters battling for over an hour, with Hayden taking a 2-0 lead before Adam clawed his way back to win
3-2,” said Leeuw.
The semifinals in both sections went according to seeding as Shean easily dispatched younger brother Adam 3-0, while Edwards had to fight to keep his title hopes alive with a 3-2 win against Queenstown’s Jimmy van Niekerk.
In the B section top seed Andrew Burger beat Peter Townes 3-0 and Craig Smith fought back from 1-0 down to beat Deon Poortman.
This set up the finals which concluded the tournament.
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