Namibia narrowly missed out on a place in the C division final at the Growthpoint Inter-Provincial Tournament in Pretoria yesterday when they lost 3-2 to the South African Country Districts C team.
In a thrilling encounter, Namibia got off to a stong start as their top two players both won their matches.
Max Endjala made a great comeback to beat Gareth Craigen 3-1 after losing the first set 11-7, but then winning the next three 16-14, 11-7, 11-3.
Namibia’s number two Danie Greeff was also involved in a tough battle before winning a close encounter 3-0 (12-10, 12-10, 11-6) against Corne Crous.
SACD, however, fought back and drew level at 2-2 after winning the next two matches, with Alwyn Venter beating Namibia’s Le-Hugo van Rooyen 3-0 (11-5, 11-3, 11-9), while Hayden Worth beat Johan Knoetze 3-0 (11-7, 11-6, 11-8).
That brought Namibia’s Emile Dorgeloh up against Johan Venter in the deciding match and Dorgeloh lived up to the occasion with a great performance, although it ultimately was not good enough.
Venter won the first set 11-8, but Dorgeloh took the second 11-9. Venter edged ahead, winning the third set 11-6, but Dorgeloh once again fought back to take the fourth set 11-9 and send the match into a deciding fifth set.
Dorgheloh, however, didn’t have anything left, while he was also playing with an injury, and lost the fifth set 11-3 as SACD clinched the tie 3-2.
Namibia’s captain and team manager Steven Berry said it was an exceptional performance.
“It was an incredible match, but unfortunately Emil walked into the match with a slight niggle, but he gave a tremendous performance. He fought with eveything he had left in him and his injury got worse as the match progressed, but he managed to push the match through to the fifth set and everyone from the other courts came along to watch it to see who would win it,” he said.
“Unfortunately he was unable to carry it through and he lost the fifth set 11-3, but it was an incredible effort and the whole of Namibia can be proud of him and the rest of the team as well,” he added.
Berry added that Endjala and Greeff also made their mark at the tournament after winning all their matches.
“Max, our number one player was undefeated, while his opponent today is ranked in the top 20 in South Africa, so it just shows the level of squash that Max is playing at the moment,” he said.
“Danie, our number two, has been phenomenal, he also won all of his matches, and in fact is now undefeated for the past two years at the IPT,” he added.
Namibia will now play Gauteng this morning in the bronze medal match, while SACD C will take on Northerns in the final, and Berry said they were determined to finish on a high.
“We expect a very tough tie but we are aiming to come home with at least the bronze medal which will be one of Nambia’s best performances ever. We’ve done very well, and are very proud of our players’ performances, but we definitely want to finish on a high note against Gauteng,” he said.
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