Category: World Tour

FIR sanctioned racketlon returns to the USA in April with the second annual Massachusetts Racket Masters. Once again, the tournament will be housed at the excellent facilities provided by Smith College in Northampton, MA. WIth 5 squash courts, 3 badminton courts and 3 indoor tennis courts reserved, there will be no need for any waiting around! Both the mens and womens elite brackets have attracted some strong entries including the top two Canadian Men, Jeremy Easterbrook and Patrick Laplante (credit:AS), as well as British number 2 Dan Busby. On the women’s side, we have two world top ten ranked seniors, Katrin Maldre and Carola Von Heimburg, as well as local squash specialist, and former national collegiate champion, Mary Hulbert. There’s still plenty of space in all draws and just 6 weeks left to enter. Prize money of between $300 and $500 will be awarded to the finalists of the elite draws. Enter now on fir.tournamentsoftware.com

Northampton is a vibrant college town with a rich array of independent stores, restaurants and a thriving music scene. A players dinner is planned for the Saturday evening in a downtown Northampton restaurant. Northampton is only 2 hours west of Boston, with easy access from both Bradley International (Just 30 minutes south of Northampton) and Logan International airports. Northampton has a number of hotels as well as an excellent selection of airbnb offerings.

Sponsorship is being provided by Oliver USA and Ping Pong Depot.

Any questions can be sent to tournament director, Andy Stenson: astenson@frcps.org

 

Andy Stenson
Tournament Director

Saturday to Monday the success of the 2017 Club La Santa Open on the canary island of Lanzarote, was followed up by the second edition of the tournament. The amazing facilities, not only in the racketlon sports, but for all other sports, meant lots of entertainment, especially for the players staying for a week plus. With temperatures above 20 degrees and a strong equator sun, lots of players had the luxury problem of dealing with sunburns, while the players dinner and party Monday evening saw others struggle with hangovers Tuesday morning. All results online on fir.tournamentsoftware.com

The Tournament Director nicked his own tournament

In the Men Elite 8-draw the two top-seeded players made it to the final as defending champion Morten Jaksland got beat Luke Barnes in the semi-final and the Tournament Director, Kresten Hougaard made it by beating Christian Schaefer from Switzerland. Schaefer had the surprise win of the tournament taking out Jesper Hougaard in the ¼-final.

The final between the two Danes was a full 2-hour marathon going back and forth. Kresten (credit: Inge Omey) expectedly took the table tennis to 13, but Morten looked in control of the badminton with an 11-6 lead at the interval. Hougaard clawed his way back into the match with a good second half and stole the badminton to 16 meaning he had a lead of 13 points going into squash. The squash was a brutal battle with neither player wanting to give in, but after a 45 minutes set Morten took it to 15 closing the gap to 7 points. Given Mortens strength in tennis he was now the favourite for the title, but Kresten raced to a 9-4 lead. Morten wasn’t done yet and fought his way back into it with 7 points straight and an 11-9 at the interval. Again, Kresten started well after the break and could close the match out at 15-15.

Bruzgina takes her first World Tour title

Monday afternoon we could put a new nationality to the title list of racketlon winners as Ana Bruzgina of Belarus won the Women Elite. Ana have previously won Antwerp Open in Belgium, but at that time the tournament was a Challenger.

Ana’s win came through a round robin group of 4 players, where she beat top seeded, Kirsten Kaptein, by 11 points, Laura Smits of Netherlands by 17 and Switzerland’s Tanja Omlin by 22. There was a huge drama for second place as the Dutch girls, Kirsten and Laura fought it out. Kirsten needed 4 points to win the match, however in Laura’s best sport. The tennis ended 21-3 and the girls were heading into a deciding gummiarm-point. Laura of course had the advantage by playing the gummiarm at the tennis court and she did not let herself down and won second place.

The favourites wins the doubles classes

The finalists of the Men Elite, Jaksland and Hougaard expectedly won the Men Elite Double, but it wasn’t without a fight as Jesper Hougaard and Malte Thyregod put in a good performance. Hougaard/Jaksland needed 19 in tennis but were behind 14-9 before finally taking control of the match winning it at 19-18.

The Dutch constellation Kirsten Kaptein and Laura Smits won the Women Elite Double, again after big drama and in need of a gummiarm. Laura made it 2 out of 2 in gummiarms in the tournament and took the trophy away from Omlin/Dübendorfer from Switzerland.

Kirsten also won the Mixed Elite, where she was first seed with her partner, Luke Barnes. Only in need of playing 2 points in tennis the entire tournament, the expected win came easier than expected.

Other results

Both the Men B and Men C was won by Germans as Markus Klement won the B and Uli Schlepphorst the Men C for the second straight year. One could argue that experienced Uli should play Men B next year.

Uli also participated in the Seniors +40, however here he had to settle for a 3rd place after a 3-point loss to the tournament’s only Swede, Magnus Åberg. Magnus took the title after also beating Manfred Grab in the final. Manfred got his title instead in the +50 where he beat Graham King in the final. Grab and Schlepphorst had teamed up the +45 doubles and took another title here. Esther Dübendorfer got revanche from losing the gummiarm in the Women Elite Double and took both the title in Women Seniors +40 and Women B while Michael and Michael, Skytte Pedersen and Holm Kristensen won the Men B Double.

Back for a third edition?

Again this year, the tournament had attracted the Green Teamers (the instructors at Club La Santa) to test themselves amongst the racketlon players. 5 of them, 3 women and 2 men took up the challenge, and especially in the Women B they did well by finishing 2nd, 3rd and 4th.

Tournament Director, Kresten Hougaard, promises to try and get Lanzarote back on the 2019 World Tour, but it equally depends on Club La Santa. Meanwhile racketlon players longing for sun and racketlon can look for the Malta Open, which again will take place in October.

Kresten Hougaard
Tournament Director

With a warm climate, all sports included and a friendly atmosphere for both adults and children, Club La Santa has been a popular destination for especially Danes since the 1980s. The resort is perfect for racketlon with fantastic facilities in all four sports and the success of 2017 is followed up this weekend, as 54 players will be part of the second edition. All matches can be followed on fir.tournamentsoftware.com

Jaksland favorite to defend his title

Morten Jaksland is one of the many players coming back for a second year. No wonder as the Dane had a pretty good time last year, winning his first ever World Tour tournament. Like last year, the world number 2, is seeded first and should see his biggest threads being world number 4 and tournament director, Kresten Hougaard along with his brother Jesper Hougaard and the dangerous, but swingy Luke Barnes of Great Britain.

The women’s event will find a new winner as the former World Champion, Nathalie Vogel, is not back to defend her title after having just given birth to a baby boy. Favourite for the title will be Kirsten Kaptein seeded 1, but should see the Belarusian former Antwerp Open winner, Ana Bruzgina, give her a hard time.

The doubles classes see Jaksland/K. Hougaard as massive favourites for the title in Men Elite while the Women Elite could be a very close call. The Mixed Elite see Kaptein/Barnes as favorites with Bruzgina along with the Club La Santa legend, Uli Schlepphorst, being second seeds.

Players dinner and party

When not playing racketlon, there is plenty of activities to do. Whether the players want to go windsurfing, lay by the pool, play beach volley, go cycling round the island or play more racket sports (including the popular padel), everything is free for the participants staying at the on-site hotel.

The epic players dinner and party of 2017 will also return this year. Monday when the tournament finishes, everyone can go to the 3-course dinner and to the on-site disco without having to worry about playing again next day.

 

From a sunny Lanzarote
Tournament Director
Kresten Hougaard

Malmö Racketlon and the Swedish Racketlon Federation hosted two racketlon events this weekend February 23-25: IWT Swedish Open 2018 and the first leg of FIR Champions League 2018. Lukas Windischberger, Austria, defended his title from last year and Natalie Paul, Germany, won the gold medal in Women A. All results are available on fir.tournamentsoftware.com

iPro London and Berlin Berghain Boasters in the lead after first leg

New for this year is an additional second division in FIR Champions League 2018. In Malmö eight drafted Division 1 teams and four Division 2 teams played three matches each. In Division 1, iPro London and Berlin Berghain Boasters won all their matches – and the two captains Amke Fischer and Duncan Stahl are both on top of the player statistics with five and four wins, respectively. Also in Division 2, iPro London and Berlin Berghain Boasters are in the lead after the first leg with two wins each. It appears that London and Berlin are outstanding at scouting racketlon players. It will be most interesting to follow the second leg in Germany in August!

Windischberger defended the title

This year 126 players from 17 countries entered IWT Swedish Open 2018. Just like previous years in Malmö, many of the best players in the world entered the tournament – 6 out of 10 of the top-10 men and two top-10 women. In the Men A draw of 24, the top-3 seeded players reached the semi finals, joined by the German wildcard player Cornelius Radermacher. In the final, after a solid 21-3 win in squash, world No 1 Lukas Windischberger needed only two points in tennis against world No 2 Morten Jaksland – which he got before changing sides of the court at 11. Thus, Windischberger secured his second title on the FIR World Tour 2018!

Izzy Bramhall (Tyrell) comeback

Fewer women entered the elite category this year, resulting in a group of four players. There were some really tight matches in Malmö, and two players won two matches. In the end, Natalie Paul, Germany, ended up on top of the podium after a +6 win over Stine Jacobsen, Denmark. Izzy Bramhall, Great Britain, won the bronze medal in her comeback to international racketlon – losing to Jacobsen by only 2 points and Paul by 5! (credit: Tournament Director)

Danes dominate the lower classes

As expected when organizing racketlon tournaments in the south of Sweden, many Danish players are attracted to cross the bridge between Copenhagen and Malmö. Twenty-eight Danes entered IWT Swedish Open 2018, and they delivered some excellent racketlon. Danes won Men B, Men C, Men D, Seniors +45, Seniors +50, Senior +55 Doubles, and (together with Swedes) Men C doubles and Seniors +45 Doubles. In total, Danes won 22 out of 57 medals during the weekend – almost 40%. That is a great achievement by the 28 Danes that came to Malmö!

Malmö Racketlon, Hyllie sportcenter, and the entire tournament crew, extend thanks to all players. We hope to see you again in the future!

 

Markus Borg
Tournament Director

Malmö Racketlon welcomes everyone to enjoy the second FIR Racketlon World Tour 2018 event. For our local club, the tournament hits a milestone this year – it is the fifth time we host this large racketlon event. We have learned a lot since we first organized the tournament in 2014 and, as always, we now hope to host the best IWT Swedish Open ever! We are delighted to welcome 129 players from 17 countries in 19 draws. Just like last year, we also co-host the first leg of FIR Champions League – this year with a brand new second division. To accommodate all this racketlon, we have booked more courts than ever before! The first matches will start already at 9 am on Friday February 23. All draws and the time schedule are now online on fir.tournamentsoftware.com

Eight+Four balanced teams compete in FIR Champions League

Eight Champions League teams will play their first leg matches in Malmö on Friday. The drafting format guarantees teams of equal strength, thus we’re up for some exciting matches as iPro London will try to defend the title from 2017. The contenders in the first division are King of Rackets, C&C Racketlonshop Union Austria, Copenhagen, Malta Magic, Berlin Berghain Boasters, Swiss Army Knives, and the new team Swedish Vikings. Experts appear to hold iPro London as favorites also this year, but especially the Austrian and Danish teams will field some really strong players. The four teams in the second division are: iPro London 2, Berlin Berghain Boasters 2, Malta Magic 2, and Swiss Army Knives 2 – if forced to pick a favorite, I would say that the German team looks promising!

Windischberger is back to defend, De Bleeckere comes for revenge

After winning IWT Swedish Open three years in a row (2014-2016), and most other tournaments as well, Jesper Ratzer retired. Instead Lukas Windischberger won the title last year after beating Kasper Jønsson in the final. World No 1 Windischberger is now coming back to defend the title, but there are several great players in the draw ready to challenge him – including five top-10 players! Among the ladies, the defending champion Amke Fischer will be focusing on FIR Champions League in Malmö, leaving the race for the title open for four remaining Women A players – resulting in a round robin and a lot of racketlon rallies. Last year’s runner-up Lieselot De Bleeckere will surely go for the gold, but Natalie Paul will be a tough opponent. Just like last year, there will be no elite doubles in Swedish Open, as most elite players will participate in FIR Champions League.

From the Swedish perspective

Sweden did not win any medals in the elite categories in last year’s IWT Swedish Open, thus there is nothing to defend but a lot to win! Unfortunately, there are no Swedish players in Women A, but in Men A as many as 9 out of 24 players are Swedish. However, not a single Swede is seeded in the draw – we even have two Swedes facing each other in the first round. Sebastian Hedlund has the highest world ranking (WR 30) of the Swedish players this year, but several players are better than their rankings, e.g., Mikael Rehn (WR 60) and Emil Gunnarsson (WR 110). Finally, it is good to see one of the best Swedish racketlon players of all times, Christian Wall, return from injuries – an obvious receiver of a wild card!

 

Welcome to Malmö!

Markus Borg
Tournament Director

Lukas Windischberger (Fotocredit RFA: podium with Busby and Dickert) and Christine Seehofer defend their titles at 8th Vienna New Year Classics from 5th to 7th January in Austria. The best players in the FIR World Rankings also win the mixed doubles together and Lukas even takes men doubles with Michi Dickert. The only elite title not won by Austria, goes to Germany with women doubles by Svenja Kleb and Ann-Katrin Pfeifer. Total prize money at this International World Tour event sponsored by ASKÖ Wien and VICTOR Austria was raised to a record of 1300 Euro with all double winners included. In total 124 players from 15 countries were responsible for 184 entries in no less than 20 draws. All winners on fir.tournamentsoftware.com

 

First titles for Korer, Harca, Strecha and Afghanistan

The first titles in World Tour history were won by Ersoy Korer in Seniors +40 doubles together with Marcel Weigl and for Afghanistan by the refugees Zabi Arabzada and Reza Mohammadi in juniors u21 doubles. Three more gold medals went to Germany thanks to Paul Sach, Markus Kugel/Ottmar Neidhardt and Ann-Kathrin Pfeifer in Men, Men Doubles and Women B. Peter Sakovics was responsible for two victories for Hungary in Seniors +50 and Mixed B – Amateur Doubles with his daughter Virag. Seniors +45 was won by Swedish legend Rickard Persson. All the other titles stayed in Austria. Juniors u13 and Seniors +40 in the Wagner family by Alexander and his father Tom. Seniors +55 to old star Michael Tesar. Juniors u16 gold medal and Men E First Timer went to newcomers Florian Harca and Nikolaus Strecha.

Apart from the head referee Michael Steiner 4 approved referees were on the centre courts (one in each sport), during the whole weekend doing an excellent job refereeing, counting and typing in the total scores on TV monitors for the spectators.

You can photos taken at the tournament here!

Thank you to all the helpers, sponsors and players to make this tournament such a success and see you back at the Super World Tour event Austrian Open – World Tour Finals from 23rd to 25th November 2018 in Austria.

 

RFA-Executive President
Marcel Weigl
weigl@racketlon.at

The first racketlon tournament in South East Asia was the last one of the year 2017: The Thailand Open in Pattaya was proceeded by the German Racketlon Federation, since Thailand has (not yet) an own Federation. Tournament director Frank Kleiber was a bit dissapointed over the number of entries (26) although the tournament was online since November 2016. The duration was cut from 3 to 2 days, and the number of courts was reduced from 4 to 2, and at the end of the day it was a successful tournament leaving all participants happy with the conditions.

 

An airport pickup was organised for all players coming to Suvarmabhumi Airport, the tournament hotel (Ambassador City Jomtien) granted very special room rates although it is high season, and finally we had a nice players party with free beer and Karaoke.

The interesting thing was that this time the participating countries had a different profile than with usual tournaments held in Europe or Canada. There was a group of good Hongkong players, the very first Thai participant ever, an Australian who lives in Thailand, a Mexican that lives in Germany, and finally the winner in Men A and in Seniors 40 was from India: Ashutosh Pednekar (credit:TD) won both categories, marching his way unstoppable to the top of the Senior world ranking, if he continues to play tournaments. All results are online on fir.tournamentsoftware.com

Discussions are ongoing, whether the Thai player Nattawee would also co-host a possible tournament in next winter. If talks are successful, we will have the second Thailand Open in next coming December again.

Here in Asia we also will have talks with the Hongkong Racketlon federation for a possibility of a tournament there, and maybe an Asia tournament series (2 or 3 tournaments in December), and we are looking very much forward to the first tournament in India during this year.

 

Frank Kleiber
Tournament Director

Traditionally the FIR Racketlon World Tour starts with the Vienna Classics into the New Year. From Friday 5th to Sunday 7th January the International World Tour event will be held in the European Championship venue City & Country Club Wienerberg. With 178 entries of 121 different players from 14 countries in 19 draws the expectations were more than met. Defending champions Christine Seehofer and Lukas Windischberger are the favourites for the elite titles once more. Friday is doubles day, all singles start on Saturday on four courts parallel including a centre court in all sports with approved referees. All draws and the time schedule are now online on fir.tournamentsoftware.com

 

Afghan refugees will participate

For the first time 10 refugees from Afghanistan including two girls from the RFA integration project will actively take part in the tournament. The youngsters will help with the tournament organisation like at the European Championships and participate in the u21 juniors and Men C – Amateur draws for the first time. Sport is lived integration and Racketlon wants to show this.

 

Late entries

Currently all draws are full, but late entries for the waiting list are possible per e-mail to tournament director Fabian Hofmann hofmann@racketlon.at

RFA-President
Marcel Weigl

The annual kick-off of the FIR World Tour will traditionally take place in Austria with the Vienna New Year Classics from Friday 5th to Sunday 7th January 2018. The International World Tour Event will be held in the European Championship Venue City & Country Club and will offer four courts in each sport as well as Arion City Hotel as official tournament hotel in walking distance. Registration deadline is Christmas day, Monday 25th December. It is possible to enter with the FIR license 2017 on fir.tournamentsoftware.com

Defending Champions all Austrian
In 2017 all victories in the elite classes went to Austria. The top players in the current FIR world rankings Lukas Windischberger and Christine Seehofer won the elite singles as well as mixed doubles together. In women doubles Christine Seehofer paired with her sister Elisabeth to take gold, while Lukas Windischberger won the title with Michi Dickert.

Tournament Website http://racketlon.at/vc2018/

Contact Tournament Director Fabian Hofmann hofmann@racketlon.at

 

Tournament Director
Fabian Hofmann