Kenyan squash players have started their Commonwealth Games in earnest following a successful conclusion of the Parklands Squash Open tournament.
The open tournament opened doors for Kenya Squash Racquets Association to pick the national teams for both Commonwealth and Africa Youth Games that will be held in July in Birmingham and the Africa Youth Games are scheduled for August in Egypt.
The tournament attracted a competitive field of players from as far as Nigeria and Zambia has given Kenyan head coach Prince an opportunity to shape his team.
“We have been preparing for this tournament for about four months. Most players came in well-equipped and ready to compete,” said coach Prince.
Junior player Arna Maldi, who is currently the top seed in the girls’ under-18 junior category reached the quarter-finals of the Parklands Open.
“I had better preparations for the event and reaching the quarters was no mean feat,” Maldi observes.
Maldi said with more sponsors, the sport has the potential to earn recognition in the country.
The Parkland Open Squash Tournament which started on 12th of February,2022 came to its culmination after seven days of action.
“I have been practicing well for this tournament and happy to have made it to the quarter finals in the ladies category. I am going to give it my all at the national trials and knowing the level of competition is going to be tougher than it has been here and I have set my eyes on making it to Birmingham. I think it’s good that more sponsors have come up to support this event and I believe this helps tremendously in promoting Squash in the country”, Aarna noted.
The Association is also looking to use such tournaments to expose players and increase their experience levels, that would play a pivotal role in growing the standards of squash as well as be used as preparation for upcoming global and continental Competitions.