Popular teams event being contested in three regions

The SA Country Districts men’s and women’s teams made a winning start in the defence of their titles on the opening day of the Growthpoint SA squash interprovincial in Pretoria, Tshwane on Monday.

Following a highly successful Growthpoint SA Nationals individual event, which ended at the all-glass court in the Brooklyn Mall on Saturday, South Africa’s top players are now involved in the popular team tournament.

One of the largest events of its kind in the world, the interprovincial has regularly drawn leading overseas players to participate for the various provinces, but the Covid-19 situation has prevented that this year.

In addition, the tournament, which has four sections, has been split into a number of regions as opposed to the normal practice of holding it in one province.

The A section is being played in Pretoria, the B section in Maritzburg in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands and the C and D sections in Johannesburg.

The SACD (South African Country District) women won the title for the first time last year and made a solid start with a 17-6 win over Joburg Squash on Monday.

The team is spearheaded by SA Nationals runner-up Lizelle Muller, who repeated her win of last week over talented 19-year-old Teagan Roux, taking the match in three games.

The SACD men’s team includes three players who qualified for the main event of the Growthpoint SA Nationals in JP Brits and Dewald and Rudi van Niekerk.

Although Brits lost his match in five games on Monday against Zambia Invitational No 1 Kelvin Ndhlovu, the Van Niekerk brothers scored comfortable 3-0 wins to ensure a 16-6 victory.

New Growthpoint SA Nationals champion Christo Potgieter led Joburg Squash to a crushing 20-5 win over KwaZulu-Natal in their opening game.

The tournament will end on Friday.