UJ served with major honours at USSA squash

AUCKALDN PARK – Can anyone beat University of Johannesburg's squash team?

Jennifer Preece represents University of Johannesburg's squash team in the University Sport South Africa tournament.

For the sixth year in a row the University of Johannesburg (UJ) has clinched the University Sports South Africa (USSA) squash tournament.

UJ entered two teams in the tournament and both teams beat their competitors from universities all over the country to claim the top spot.

Stellenbosch University was no match for University of Johannesburg as Danielle Cunningham lost to Jennifer Preece.

According to Reedwaan Asvat, UJ squash manager, the 1st team faced their most difficult challenge in the final against University of Pretoria and managed to win 19–8. The 2nd team comfortably beat North West University 21–7 in their section B final.

Tyrone Dial is part of UJ’s 2017 winning team.

Besides winning the whole tournament as a team, UJ players Alexa Pienaar and Blessing Muhwati won the individual squash titles. Pienaar, who was a runner up last year, won it with a 3–0 match victory against her University of Pretoria opponent, Hannelise Human.

Blessing Muhwati wins his first individual University Sports South Africa squash championship this year. Photo: Supplied

Muhwati lost in the final against Thoboki Mohohlo, but Mohohlo was not a registered student at any South African university, so the title was awarded to the UJ player.

The story does not end there as UJ’s Pienaar, Muhwati, Kacey-Leigh Dodd and Kyle Maree were all selected for the USSA squash team.

With all these accolades for UJ squash, Asvat expressed his gratitude to the team’s coach. “We need to thank coach Mike Bester for all his work in preparing the players,” he said.

Asvat also thanked Nomsa Mahlangu, head of sport at UJ, her staff and everybody else who was involved in hosting the tournament.