Last week, the Warriors squash team competed at the OUA championship, hosted by Brock University at White Oaks Resort in the Niagara-on-the-Lake area.
The team played riveting games all throughout the championship, being undefeated for the first three matches they played.
The team played five matches over the weekend (March 11-13th), winning 6-11 over the Guelph Gryphons, 5-2 over the Mcmaster Marauders, and 4-3 over the Western Mustangs before reaching the semifinals. They went on to win the semifinals against the Toronto Varsity Blues with a score of 4-3. The championship ended with Queen’s Gaels winning Gold with a tough game of 7-0 in the medal match, securing their seventh straight OUA title.
Leading the way was Khaaliqa Nimji, a third-year Recreation and Sports Business student. Nimji, a Kenyan squash player who has represented Kenya at the 2010, 2014 and 2018 Commonwealth Games, was named one of the OUA All-Stars during the weekend.
“I feel very honoured to have been chosen as an OUA All-Star. It was completely unexpected,” Nimji said.
Nimji stated winning the match against the Western Mustangs was very rewarding. “My favourite part was definitely my match against Western. It was a very tough game. I was down 2-1 in games but managed to push through and win it 3-2. That was the game that took us to the semi-finals. The support from the team was phenomenal. I came off that court absolutely knackered but pleased with the way I had played. I sat down and didn’t get up for a good 15-20 minutes, just completely overwhelmed with exhaustion.”
Regarding her reaction to the team winning silver, she stated, “I couldn’t be any more proud of the team. Every single one of them played their hearts out. I was so happy to have won silver with the girls! Having worked so hard from the start of the season, we deserved it. We had some very tough games but we all played our best and pushed through which was amazing.”
The women’s championship ended with the Western Mustangs securing bronze in their match against the Toronto Blues.
On the other hand, the Waterloo men’s team won bronze at the OUA championship. They played five games, winning 7-0 to the Brock Badgers and 7-0 to the McMaster Marauders. They eventually lost to the Western Mustangs in the semifinals with a score of 7-0. However, the team ended the tournament on a high note, securing bronze in their match against the Guelph Gryphons with a score of 7-0 along with Cameron Seth, a graduate student in the Maths faculty, also being named an OUA All-Star.
The men’s championship ended with the Western Mustangs winning gold and the Toronto Blues securing silver.
