Titles for Lwamba Chileshe and Abbie Palmer at Panmure Open

Lwamba Chileshe has won the battle of the brothers in the final of the Barfoot & Thompson Panmure Open a PSA 3 Challenger tournament.

Older brother Lwamba, 23 defeated Temwa, 21 for his third PSA Challenger title, the third over his younger sibling in the final after titles at Morrinsville and Northland, both last year.

The head-to-head record now stands at 4-2 to Lwamba, although it was Temwa who won their previous encounter in France earlier in the year.

In the Panmure final Temwa was steady in the opening points and even dictated play, however Lwamba ranked 104 showed mature play to stay in the game before gaining the advantage once scores reached 8-8 to take the set 11-9.

In the second game Temwa was in the majority of points before Lwamba played a waiting game and then three errors came his way as he wrapped up the set.

The third game featured Lwamba with a considerable lead, looking to wrap things up quickly at 10-5, however Temwa ranked 125 in the world was not to be put down so easily and chipped away at the score to give his brother a few nerves before he finally wrapped up the match 11-9 in 38 minutes and have his name engraved on the Ross Norman Trophy.

In the women’s Satellite final top seed Abbie Palmer beat 16-year-old Ella Lash in four games for the title.

For Palmer the victory added to her win at the Waikato Open in Hamilton the previous week and sets her up nicely for the Barfoot & Thompson Auckland Open  at her home club, North Shore this week, where she will top women’s seed in the women’s alongside Emma Millar while Lwamba and Temwa will be the men’s top seeds.

Palmer, 24 who has a current PSA ranking of 163 but has been ranked as high as 83 played her typical quick-fire fashion as she raced through the first game 11-6 as both players looked to establish a rhythm in the match.

Howeve in the second game 16-year-old Lash rnaked inside the top 200 came back with a more measured approach and won 12-10. The effort of the second game seemed to tell on Lash as Palmer showed her experience to take the third and fourth game 11-2, 11-3 and wrap up the title.

Barfoot & Thompson Panmure Open

Women’s final:

Abbie Palmer bt Ella Lash 11-6, 10-12, 11-2, 11-3,

Men’s final.

Lwamba Chileshe bt Temwa Chileshe 11-9, 11-6, 11-9