News >> Oteng Memorial Tournament

Oteng Memorial Tournament

 They came late, but they came.

On Saturday, 20 August I officiated at the Oteng Memorial Tournament held at the Wits University squash courts.  Besides the SATTB national tournaments that I have been to over the last 8 years, this was the biggest entry for a senior tournament. 72 men and 28 women entered.  For the first time we held both men’s and women’s doubles separately.  They came from Limpopo, Mafikeng, Nelspruit, Vaal, and Gauteng.  There was even one entrant from Germany, Sonja Wieeland. The average age in the tournament was probably about 23 years. We started at 11 am and concluded about 8 pm.

The HPC players took most of the honours, with Keegan Lingerveldt winning the men’s event and Khanyasile Madlala winning the women’s event.  The men’s doubles were won by and Terence and Itumeleng.   The women’s doubles were won by Vivian and Sisipho. Khanyasile and Zodwa choose to play in the men’s doubles event instead of in the women’s event, and they did so with distinction reaching the final.  Lloyd Reddy of Gauteng Central prevented a HPC clean sweep by reaching the semi-finals of both the singles and doubles events.

It was a good tournament on the table, but off the table was even better.  The Wits team did a fantastic job of ensuring that the tournament ran smoothly and that the facilities and logistics were taken care of.  The spirit of the tournament was excellent with no incidents during the day. My congratulations to the Wits players and officials for hosting, in my opinion, the best tournament that I have attended in my 8 years in Gauteng.  Oteng would have been proud!

Vivian Reddy
Tournament referee.