Cape Town
3rd seeds Central Gauteng, despite being without the services of their captain Michael Tootill, upset the seedings in the Laser Jarvis Kaplan Cup Squash Interprovincial championships being played in Cape Town when they defeated second seeds Kwazulu Natal 16-9 in a closely fought contest at Western Province Cricket Club on Wednesday, 16th July. Kwazulu Natal was without their number 2 player Hungarian Mark Krajcsak who had suffered a groin injury on Monday.
Devon Hendrickse, ranked 11 in South Africa, drew first blood when he outplayed 5th ranked Andrew Martin in four games. Experienced Adrian Hansen levelled matters for Kwazulu Natal when he then beat Paul Atkinson also in four games. Former Capetonian Rudi Willemse notched a second point for Central Gauteng defeating Gary Naidoo for the loss of 13 points.
In a see sawing contest talented Thoboki Mohohlo played astute focussed squash to clinch the match for Gauteng beating the Kwazulu Natalian number 2 Gary Wheadon 11-9 in the decider.
The final match of the tie saw Kwazulu Natalian Steve Coppinger, ranked 21 in the world beat Eddie Charlton from England in 4 games.
Top seeds Western Province with all cylinders firing dropped only 1 point in their 20-1 drubbing of Northerns. After losing the first game 12-10 to Northerns number 1 Kelvin Ndhlovu of Zambia Shaun Le Roux raced though the second game 11-0 and lost only a further 6 points in his 3-1 win. Le Roux’s Western Province team mates Jonathan Kemp, Clinton Leeuw, Rodney Durbach and Zuko Kubukeli all won their matches in straight games.
In the third A section tie SACD with Egyptian Karim Gawad in the top slot accounted for Border 16-6.
Thursday’s fixtures sees what could decide the men’s title the clash between Western Province and Central Gauteng.
In the women’s A section the powerhouses Western Province and Central Gauteng both notched 20-0 victories over SACD A and Northerns respectively and are heading for an entertaining final round clash on Friday .
Fixtures Thursday: UCT 13h00 Men A: WP A v s CGA, SACD A vs Northerns A, KZN A vs Border A, Women’s A: WP A vs Northerns A, KZN A vs C G A, EP A vs SACD.
WPCC 13h00 Men B: EPA vs KZNB, WPB vs S A, Midlands A vs Northerns B, CG B vs Easterns A, Women B: WP B vs Midlands, WP C vs SACD B, E P B vs Northerns B.
UCT 9h00 Men C: Namibia vs WP C, KZNC vs SACD B, CG C vs EP C, E P B vs Border B.
UCT 9h00 Men D: SACD C vs KZN D, WP D vs F S B, C G D vs Midlands B, Easterns B vs Northerns C.
Liz Addison
