Record Turnout for Daikin Coastal Open Squash Champs 2008

Every year an assortment of vagrant squash players descend on the SFC Squash Club in Swakopmund for its flagship tournament: The Daikin Coastal Open Squash Championships.

The 2008 championships, held on 27 and 28 December, attracted a record 42 entrants from Swakop, Langstrand, Walvis, Windhoek, Cape Town, Pretoria, Munich, Sydney and even Tsumeb.

Marco Becker, ranked 35 in Germany, won the Elite competition for a second year running with a blazing final against Swakop’s Ian Rowett who managed to push the young professional to four in what many said was the best all-Namibian final they’d ever seen.

Isabell Schnoor, just returned home after a 10-year squash spree in Europe, outplayed Windhoek’s top woman, Adri Lambert to retain the Women’s title. And Gabs Muteka, also from Windhoek, had an excellent tournament ousting Trevor Grane and Michael Gruhn in succession to win the Main event. The Plate event went to Tsumeb’s Tina Rutters over the ever-improving Ruth Hornickel of Swakopmund.

With 108 squash matches played in 24 hours, mighty clashes are inevitable.

Luke Allen and Dries Tredoux had their traditional five-set humdinger, this one going the way of Dries. Cape Town-based Jade Peplar beat stalwart Jacques Steenkamp 11-8 in the fifth; and the keenly anticipated derby semi-final between David and Ian Rowett did not disappoint, David drumming up a 2-0 lead for Ian to fight tooth, nail and toe to overcome.

Hakkies Husselman and Wynand Labuschagne had nothing but mighty clashes all the way through; and maverick Tsumeb talent Kyle Rutters turned every game into an entertaining display of guile, deception and a startling turn of speed.

With many of the top players honing their skills in foreign lands the Daikin Coastal Open is often the highlight of Namibian squash events. This year was no exception. Some went so far as to say this was the best local event ever.

Full results
Elite: Marco Becker, Ian Rowett, David Rowett, Angelo Titus, Jade Peplar, Jacques Steenkamp, Sven Grüttemeyer, Dries Tredoux, Arno Becker, Bimbo van der Bijl, Hakkies Husselman, Isabell Schnoor, Luke Allen, Etienne Lombard, Fred Botha, Brian Kakehombe.

Main: Gabs Muteka, Michael Gruhn, Trevor Grane, Kyle Rutters, Immanuel Amarongo, Uwe Grüttemeyer, Wynand Labuschagne, Clinton Dewing, Ferdi Malherbe, Dirk van Niekerk, Adri Lambert, Bykes Muashekele, Danie Greef, Heinz Ahrens, Mario Oprandi (and John Rowett), Jaco van Zyl.

Main Plate: Tina Rutters, Ruth Hornickel, Flicky Rowett, Andree Steyn, Pascal Seebach, Conny Becker, Jacques Erasmus, Corene Roux. No-shows: Nials van Zyl.