Chileshe Cleans Up First Premier League Squash Tournament

The opening tournament of the Squash Premier League, arguably the first elite sport in New Zealand proved successful for Temwa Chileshe the 19-year-old who resides at the host venue, SquashXL

Chileshe and his final opponent, Joel Arscott have both made the SquashXL centre in Avondale, Auckland their home over the past eight weeks in a bid to be able to practice, play matches and train in a dedication to the game the want to make a career out of.

The training obviously helped as they clashed in the final which although not having PSA world ranking points on offer their was prizemoney and the valuable time on court playing competition matches.

In the final it was Chileshe ranked 337 in the world who started on fire reeling on points with seeming ease and taking the first game 11-4. The second was just as straightforward for an 11-2 scoreline.

Arscott with a world ranking of 235 re-focused himself during the break and played steadier squash in the third game to force some errors in his opponents game and won 11-8. However in the fourth when decisions went against Arscott he wasn’t able to get his concentration enough as Chileshe stayed on track and won the fourth and final game 11-5 for the title.

“I’m stoked with winning it and to show people we’ve been working quite hard during lockdown. I think I played a lot better today. You have to start hard and fast in the cooler conditions at night. It’s going to be good to getting better and better with each tournament against everyone, we’ll all improve for sure,” said Chileshe.

In other matches 17-year-old Jack Conder defeated NZ Junior Champion, Glenn Templeton one year his senior in the Consolation final in five games in 51 minutes 13-10 in the fifth using the ‘long or short’ rule of the player picking if they want victory in ‘next point wins’ or the first to 13 points from the 10-all scoreline.

The plate final had the youngest player in the tournament, Leo Fatialofa at barely 17 accounted for the oldest, Michael Shelton-Agar at 21 in straight games.

The third and fourth playoff featuring Elijah Thomas with a ranking of 257 beat Anthony Lepper at 256 was a five game epic, also finishing 13-10 in the fifth in favour of Thomas.

The second tournament in the series starts on Friday 22 May.

Unsquashable Premier League Results:

Jack Conder bt Glenn Templeton 11-7, 6-11, 6-11, 11-9, 13-11,

Plate final:

Leo Fatialofa  bt Michael Shelton-Agar, 11-3, 11-6, 11-8

Third/fourth playoff:

Elijah Thomas bt Anthony Lepper  7-11, 9-11, 11-7, 11-2, 13-10

Grand final:

Temwa Chileshe.bt Joel Arscott 11-4, 11-2, 8-11, 11-5