Agility test for squash players
SQUASH Fiji is working towards selecting its team for the Oceania Squash Closed Championship which will be held in Nadi from October 3-11 this year.
Newly-appointed pathways and development coach Reginald Pal and his team of coaches which include Andrew McGoon and Gerald Young took emerging and national training squad members through an agility test at the Defence Club in Suva on Saturday.
Players from Nadi, Lautoka and Savusavu travelled to the Capital City to be part of the program.
“This This is our testing phase where we are trying to select a final team to represent Fiji,” Pal said.
“This is an Oceania championship where we will have teams from Papua New Guinea, Norfolk Islands and hopefully some of the other smaller islands as well.
“Squash is not a very popular sport in many countries because of the lack of facilities but here in Fiji it has grown a lot in the last few years.
“We’re hoping that through this exposure we are able to grow and promote the sport.”
Pal, who is a former Fiji number one, said they hoped to select a team towards the end of July.
“The final selection is five in a team with one or two non-travelling reserves. But here we have home advantage so everyone is going to be travelling in a way.
“It’s a teams event and then an individual event to see who is the best in the Pacific islands.”
Some players to look for include Alison Yee, Daniel Fong, Neil Vakacavu, Marika Matanatabu and Zonal Ali.
Matanatabu represented Fiji at the Commonwealth Games last year where he reached the plate quarterfinals while Ali is based out of Auckland, New Zealand and is one of the top contenders for the team.