National Sports Council (NSC) secretary general Henry Lihaya welcomed visiting teams when opening the Uhuru Squash Open (USO) at the Dar es Salaam Gymkhana club.
Rajab Simai Rajab from Zanzibar had to stretch to return a shot by Lawrence Chishimba from Zambia in Court Number Five at the Dar es Salaam Gymkhana Club (DGC) Uhuru Squash Open Wednesday morning.
He assured teams from Zambia, Kenya and Uganda that although they are more familiar with the game, Tanzania will provide a suitable challenge for them.
He also expressed his pleasure to hear that the Interim Squash Tanzania (IST) team is not only providing squash classes for local children here in Dar es Salaam, but has plans of taking these programmes to up-country regions soon.
Before going into one of the two glass-back courts to official launch the tournament, Lihaya expressed his gratitude to the event’s sponsors.
Squash Tanzania interim secretary Marwa Busigara reminded the players that the two glass-back and four closedback courts will all be used throughout the tournament simultaneously.
Busigara, who is also the tournament’s referee, confirmed that they are starting with teams from Zambia, Kenya and Uganda, together with those from Arusha and Zambia.
After the first round, the winners proceeded to the third round yesterday evening and the fourth round will be held tomorrow morning to be followed by the quarter-finals in the evening.
The semi-finals will be played on Friday mornings, with the final scheduled for the evening.
Busigara was relieved that the tournament had started. “So far so good, bearing in mind the natural hiccups we had arranging referees and starting the actual first matches, after the official launch of the tournament. I’m happy with the progress so far,” he said.
By IMAN MANI, Tanzania Daily News
