Temwa Chileshe and Emma Millar Take Away Henderson Titles
Sunday 8 November 2020, 8:15PM
By dave worsley
1884 views
Success for Temwa Chileshe and Emma Millar in the Aquaheat Henderson PSA Satellite tournament with solid victories in humid conditions in Auckland over the weekend.
With all players backing up after the New Zealand Senior Nationals the previous weekend there was some fatigued bodies on display, however the competitive nature was still to the fore.
In the men’s final Temwa Chileshe, who had beaten his higher ranked brother, Lwamba the previous day in five games but stepped up to defeat teenager Elijah Thomas in straight games with the younger player appearing to have a few calls go against him at vital times.
Thomas had earlier defeated Joel Arscott in his semifinal.
The 11-3 scoreline in the first game probably wasn’t justified with Thomas ranked 251 competitive all the way and starting well in the second with a 3-0 and 4-1 lead before the traditional determination of Chileshe showed through to win 11-9 11-9 as he trading long rallies with his opponent.
It was a good tournament victory for 20-year-old Chileshe who had improved dramatically over the year and has a current PSA world ranking of 308 which if tournaments are available to play in 2021 should improve quickly.
The women’s final was a repeat match up from the previous week’s nationals final featuring Millar (Waikato) against Abbie Palmer (Auckland) with both players starting fast and trading games.
Eventually Millar ranked 102 in the world grabbed the initiative in the third game however the fourth game was still up in the air until Millar won it on a Palmer error 11-2, 5-11, 11-6, 11-9 to show she is the best domestic women’s player in New Zealand.