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BON VOYAGE . . . Ryan Gwidzima, Zimbabwe’s young squash prodigy, poses for a photo at Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo International Airport in Bulawayo yesterday shortly before flying off to the United States to play in the 2017 US Junior Open Squash Championships in Connecticut this coming weekend

Collin Matiza Sports Editor
ONE of Zimbabwe’s most promising junior squash players Ryan Gwidzima left the country yesterday afternoon for the United States where he is going to take part in the 2017 US Junior Open Squash Championships at New Haven in Connecticut this weekend.

The 12-year-old Bulawayo-based player left for the United States via Johannesburg, South Africa, accompanied by Trevor Williams who will be his coach during the four-day tournament which is slated to run from this Saturday to next Tuesday.

According to Gwidzima’s father, Langton, his son will play in the boys Under-13 category which has a strong field of 94 players and his first match will be on Saturday.

“Ryan got the invitation to play at this year’s US Junior Open Squash Championships from US Squash president and CEO, Kevin Klipstein, through some Zimbabweans who are based in the United States and this will be his first appearance at this tournament.

“I was supposed to accompany him to the United States but I couldn’t get a visa and Trevor Williams, who I also coach, ended up travelling with him as his coach. Their trip to the United States was made possible by a number of sponsors who we engaged here in Bulawayo,” Langton Gwidzima said yesterday.

In fact, this year’s US Junior Open Championships, the world’s largest individual squash tournament, is set for record participation as 940 players from around the wold travel to central Connecticut this weekend.

The more than 900 players will play in the boys and girls Under-11, 13, 15, 17 and 19 categories and the four-day tournament will be hosted by Yale University, Wesleyan University, Loomis Chaffee School and Trinity College. Players from 41 countries – an increase from 34 last year – will compete across five age divisions.

The largest draws are the boys Under-19 and boys Under-17, which are full with 128 players, while the girls Under-17 (121) and boys Under-15 (123) both exceed 100. 2 162 matches will be scheduled over the course of the four days. Last year, the 10n champions represented Team USA, Egypt, Japan, Mexico, England and India.

And Ryan Gwidzima, who next year will be a Grade Seven pupil at Bulawayo’s Kumalo Primary School, is seeded in the 33-48 bracket at this tournament where he will be joined in the boys Under-13 section by five fellow African players Islam Kouritam, Youssef Mabrouk, Youssef Bastawy, Adam Abdelazim (all from Egypt), and South Africa’s Luhann Groenewald.

Interestingly, Egyptian Kouritam is the top seed in the boys Under-13 category while his fellow countryboys Mabrouk, Bastawy and Abdelazim are seeded third, seventh and 13th respectively. South Africa’s Groenwald is seeded 25th while Ryan Gwidzima is in the 33-48 group in the boys Under-13 seedings.

The seeding committee received roughly 150 petitions in each round of preliminary seeding and it closely evaluated all evidence provided, according to the organisers of this year’s US Junior Open Squash Championships.

The US Junior Open Squash Championships are the largest junior squash event in North America and the tournament has attracted over 900 of the top young players in the world to Connecticut, the beautiful section of New England during this holiday season.

It joins the Hong Kong and British Junior Opens as one of the most anticipated events on the World Squash calendar. And Ryan Gwidzima of Zimbabwe will be part of this year’s junior squash jamboree in Connecticut this weekend where he is expected to fly his country’s flag high.

Ryan Gwidzima’s latest exploits were in the Zimbabwe Squash Academy’s eighth anniversary celebrations tournament at Harare’s Belgravia Sports Club where he came first in the boys Under-14 section two weeks ago.

He also came third overall in the boys Under-16 category at the same tournament. Ryan Gwidzima started playing squash three years ago and has established himself as one of the country’s top emerging talents.

He took up the sport to emulate his father, Langton, who is also a squash player. The talented young player has also represented Zimbabwe at a number of junior tournaments in South Africa in the past two years.