Northerns player Awande Malinga was crowned South Africa’s junior squash champion when she claimed the U19 title on the final day of the Growthpoint SA Junior Nationals at the V & A Waterfront in Cape Town on Sunday, 4 September 2022.
The conclusion of the event saw winners in the U15 and U17 divisions also being decided in a celebration of squash which enabled the cream of the of the country’s juniors to compete at one of the most iconic venues in SA.
Malinga put the finishing touches to a dominant performance in Cape Town when she strode to her fourth straight games win, this time putting Joburg Squash’s Rachel Shannon to the sword 11-2 11-5 11-6.
The Northerns player got off to the best possible start and although Shannon never stopped trying, there was simply no way for her to stem the tide.
Dene van Zyl (WP) was crowned the U17 girls champion. Van Zyl was dominant and proved too good for KZN’s Cevana Naidoo in the title decider, winning 3-0.
Northerns player Elzandri Janse van Rensburg also had to work for her win in the girls’ U15 division against Makayla Naidoo (KZN).
She led 2-0 before Naidoo won the third to give her opponent something to think about, but Janse van Rensburg came back to emphatically take the fourth game 11-5.
Results:
U15
Pool A: Elzandri Janse van Rensburg (Northerns) bt Makayla Naidoo (KZN) 3-1 (11-8 11-7 6-11 11-5), Kate van Biljon (Border) bt Starla Phillips (Northerns) 3-1 (11-6 11-3 11-13 11-5)
Pool B: Anushka van Rensburg (Northerns) bt Riley Slade (WP) 3-0 (11-2 11-5 11-8)
U17
Pool A: Dene van Zyl (WP) bt Cevana Naidoo (KZN) 3-0 (11-6 11-6 11-5), Cara Knott (Border) bt Bianke Pienaar (Joburg Squash) 3-2 (5-11 11-8 11-2 8-11 11-9)
Pool B: Anel Marais (Boland) bt Chante Leppan (Northerns) 3-1 (7-11 11-3 12-10 12-10)
U19
Pool A: Awande Malinga (Northerns) bt Rachel Shannon (Joburg Squash) 3-0 (11-2 11-5 11-6), Ashton Weir (Northerns) bt Nicola Bentley (KZN) 3-0 (12-10 11-8 11-7)
Pool B: Rebecca Glanvill (WP) bt Jeanne Craig (Northerns) 3-2 (6-11 11-8 6-11 11-1 11-9)
Photo 1 Caption: Northerns player Awande Malinga reaches for a forearm in her match against Rachel Shannon of Joburg Squash on the fourth day of the Growthpoint SA Junior Nationals squash championships at the V & A Waterfront in Cape Town on Sunday. Malinga won 3-0 to take the U19 national girls’ title. Photo: Supplied / Carl Fourie
With editing by gsport
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