Lwamba Chileshe reaches final of New Zealand National Championships
July 02 2022
Lwamba Chileshe came up against Paul Coll in the final of the New Zealand National Squash Championships staged at the Devoy Squash & Fitness in Tauranga & earned praise form the World No.2 before eventually be denied 12-10 11-8 11-5 by the top seed.
The contest was predicted to be a clear-cut win for the World No.2, however the was far from a foregone conclusion as Lwamba rose to the occasion to force Coll into a succession of long rallies & unforced errors.
Lwamba Chileshe saved a couple of game balls in the first game before eventually losing 12-10 in what was a huge effort for the Waikato-based player.
In the second game, Lwamba again forced his illustrious compatriot to focus his play & produce his best squash, before Coll closed out the 2nd & 3rd games 11-8 & 11-5 to claim his sixth New Zealand national squash title.
After the match, Coll was praised full of praise for his Commonwealth Games teammate: “He played well he’s been training in England for a while and his made some improvements in his game. I haven’t played a lot of these guys for some time and it’s great to see them improving.”
Lwamba reached the final with wins over Chris Tietjen in his opening match, Manaia Murphy-Fell in the 2nd round & Elijah Thomas in the quarter-finals, before overcoming his brother & fellow #teamunsquashable player Temwa Chileshe 11-7 11-8 11-6 in the semi-finals.
Temwa Chileshe beat Chris van der Salm 11-9 11-8 11-4 to win the third-place play-off.
The contest was predicted to be a clear-cut win for the World No.2, however the was far from a foregone conclusion as Lwamba rose to the occasion to force Coll into a succession of long rallies & unforced errors.
Lwamba Chileshe saved a couple of game balls in the first game before eventually losing 12-10 in what was a huge effort for the Waikato-based player.
In the second game, Lwamba again forced his illustrious compatriot to focus his play & produce his best squash, before Coll closed out the 2nd & 3rd games 11-8 & 11-5 to claim his sixth New Zealand national squash title.
After the match, Coll was praised full of praise for his Commonwealth Games teammate: “He played well he’s been training in England for a while and his made some improvements in his game. I haven’t played a lot of these guys for some time and it’s great to see them improving.”
Lwamba reached the final with wins over Chris Tietjen in his opening match, Manaia Murphy-Fell in the 2nd round & Elijah Thomas in the quarter-finals, before overcoming his brother & fellow #teamunsquashable player Temwa Chileshe 11-7 11-8 11-6 in the semi-finals.
Temwa Chileshe beat Chris van der Salm 11-9 11-8 11-4 to win the third-place play-off.