Top Seeds Claim Squash Honours At Southland Open

A hugely successful fi innovations Southland Open squash tournament was held at Squash City and ILT Stadium Southland over the weekend.

The top seeded players prevailed in the men’s and women’s open divisions, albeit in contrasting styles.

In the men’s open, Lwamba Chileshe (ranked number two in New Zealand) beat his brother and second seed, Temwa (the fourth ranked player in the country) in three very entertaining sets.

The women’s open final was also a battle of the top two seeds, with top seed Emma Cormack, from Canterbury, overcoming Lily Rae from Midlands in five sets.

The tournament was run by Squash Southland, using Squash City and ILT Stadium Southland as venues.

Tournament Director and Squash Southland District Manager Bruce Thirkell was thrilled with how successful the tournament was, and how far it has progressed in recent years.

“We’ve been lucky to have massive support from our principal sponsor, fi innovations, and also other local businesses sponsoring divisions.”

An entertaining Q&A session was held with the Chileshe brothers, who were part of New Zealand’s Commonwealth Games team in 2022, as part of the prize giving.

There was also an auction run by Andy Yule, to raise funds for the brothers’ next overseas adventure. Items for sale included two signed Commonwealth Games tops and training sessions with the brothers on Sunday afternoon. A surprisingly vigorous bidding war raised over $2700.

Squash Southland organised and funded training sessions with the brothers on Sunday morning for selected junior and masters players.

The auction winners were both nervous and excited about their training sessions on Sunday afternoon, but all made the most of a once in a lifetime opportunity.

Southland Open, sponsored by fi innovations, results:
Men’s Open: [1] Lwamba Chileshe beat [2] Temwa Chileshe, also from Waikato 11/9, 11/7, 13/11 [both players are from Waikato but are now based in England].
Women’s Open: [1] Emma Cormack from Canterbury beat [2] Lily Rae from Midlands 11/5, 2/11, 11/5, 10/12, 11/9