Funding key for SA’s top players

JOHANNESBURG: Living at the southern tip of Africa has its benefits but when you are a squash player hoping to crack it in the competitive world of the racket sport, it can be tough.

JP Brits, the top-seeded South African at this week’s Growthpoint SA Open in Pretoria, is the only local lad who plays regularly on the Professional Squash Association (PSA) Challenger Tour.

This would not have been possible if it was not for the generous support of sponsors and the ranking points he earned for winning the Gauteng Open in April.

Hosting one of the big PSA tournaments pretty much boils down to the depth of organisers’ pockets and Squash SA has been able to host a PSA Challenger Tour event thanks to the involvement of Growthpoint.

It often takes a long time for a South African to make a breakthrough and in Brits’ case, it happened this year.

“The higher your ranking, the greater the opportunity to make it into big tournaments,” Brits explained. “I hope to be ranked among the top 100 (in the world) by the end of this year and hopefully among the best 50 by 2020.

“I’ve been lucky enough to get a sponsor over the last month and it is possible that it could be the first year that I will be playing in 10 tournaments.”

It is a vicious circle where once a player makes it to a certain point, they start to earn a living and make it in the sport.

Squash SA is looking to introduce a series where local players can gain experience against each other and earn points towards world rankings.

Milnay Louw, SA’s best woman player at the SA Open in Pretoria, knows how difficult it is to crack it among the best in the world.

“I would like to play more of the major tournaments to get a better a ranking (but) funding is the biggest problem of getting the opportunity to play at as many tournaments to get the necessary exposure to feature among the best in the world,” she said.

“You need to play a minimum of 10 tournaments a year and if you play less you have a lower average.

“I’ve never played more than 10 tournaments, the most I have played has been about six or seven, so I have a few more to go.”