 News MAD4RACKETS.COM BRITISH CLOSED RACKETLON CHAMPIONSHIPS – FULL REPORT, BY KEITH LESSER
It’s a beautiful day!
A distinguished and impressive event, Stuart Websdale acted as Tournament Director and put in a performance of a lifetime. Investing much of his time in British Racketlon, Stuart must be commended for this astonishing job. It is no secret the UK aim to be the biggest and best racketlon nation in the world. 30 new players participated in the event. Buzzing and enthused, all players are ready to launch themselves into racketlon stardom.
O’Donnell was Invincible
In the main events O’Donnell, Lawrence, Whitehouse and Hogg won through for top prize. O’Donnell needed three points in the final, this he achieved with ease against a battling Calum Munro. John, sharp from the Czech Open, was outstanding. Undefeated at squash all weekend, he did however manage to lose some badminton and table tennis. However, you had the feeling, a bit like when Magnus plays, that John was not going to lose. 21-7 in table tennis is a total that many better players would be happy with against the awkward pimpled customer Calum Munro. 16 points in badminton is more than most would muster. However, Calum’s 10 points in squash shows that the Scot is a future Veterans World Champion. In his win over Number Two Seed Websdale in the semi, Calum again got double figures in squash and showed excellent stamina and fitness.
Kirstie Leach, One for the Future!
The ladies runner-up, a novice in table tennis, showed her credentials with a close match against English International Natalie Lawrence. Kirstie is a highly ranked tennis player and pushed Natalie well into the tennis and one would estimate Kirstie making a significant impact on the international stage, 2006 should see further representation in the World’s Top Ten. Natalie is improving and squash coaching sees her getting stronger and stronger. Table Tennis Coaching on April 9th at the newly formed Heston Racketlon Club could see Natalie coming to Belgium to WIN.
Vicious Squash Genius!
Once again brutal athlete Richard Whitehouse came off a squash court with devastating effect. Ken Bound, himself a squash specialist, pronounced “he was too good”. For such a mild mannered, friendly chap, Richard certainly possesses some clinical racket ability. If he manages to practice table tennis in the next couple of months he is the best in the world, end of story. Ulf Bredburg is a better tennis player, but he should be worried, very worried. Richard Thomson v Magnus Eliasson - 13-21- Table Tennis (Vienna) “The Ball Came at me like a SNAKE”. This same quote was exclaimed by a mystery racketlon player over the weekend of The British Championships. Can Whitehouse deliver the snake? Can he take gold?
Roland Leigh will Step up To Elite
Class B winner and newcomer looks to participate in Belgium. An excellent badminton, squash combination sees a parallel perhaps to Stuart Websdale when he first participated. 21-9 over Selwyn Walmsley in the final at squash is palpitating – Selwyn is a club first team squash player! 4 nets in table tennis didn’t gave Selwyn the start he needed. 21-0 would be more accurate than the eventual 21-7. Rob Conber works at the Next Generation Centre alongside Nigel Hunter. Hunter’s win over Matt Schlotter was the best tennis match of the weekend. The professional tennis coach came out on top 21-17. A further victory over Hogg JNR suggests Hunter poses trouble to certain profiles. Rob himself played 4 matches. Feeling dazed and confused, Rob put his first racketlon experience into words. “I had a shower and went to bed”. He lost a gumi to bronze finisher Niall Munro and won a gumi against badminton supreme Gareth Shaw. Twice in one weekend, Rob also fancies the trip to Belgium.
Ooo-oo-ooo, ooo-oo-ooo Why do you build me up (build me up) Buttercup, baby Just to let me down (let me down) and mess me around ...
The best match in Class C was runner-up Ed Qualtrough delivering a gumi victory over Table Tennis and Tennis Newcomer Nick Corking. Gareth Preece won the Class C and is a solid allrounder, playing mainly tennis. Ed debuted at Heston last October. Qualtrough evolving from the Sheffield University Table Tennis Club Hall of Fame has improved his three lesser sports immensely.
Foulds will break the World’s Top 20 in 2006
First described by Ray Jordan as “Chris Noakes without the tennis” – John Foulds looks set to lay this comparison to rest. Here are some facts:
“I’ll tell you one thing, it’s always better when we’re together”
Thanks again to everyone. Let us grow as one. What a team, what a tournament, what a sport.
Mens Class A
Mens Class B
Mens Class C
Ladies Class A
Juniors Class A
Veterans Class A
Certainly, this future linking bodes well and the very fact that such conversations took place is a great stride forward for spreading the word of racketlon and creating mutually beneficial relationships between the five sports. A target is event stand representation at The 2006 English Open. Contact has been made regarding representation at retail villages for the big squash and badminton championships and budget/sponsorship permissing this is all stuff with huge potential. This is also correlated to contact with the events team at "Sport City" - The Manchester complex is a racketlon dream and discussions over coming months could mean a sensational event in the future. 1st March - Thurrock Doubles Championships 23rd April - Entries received from Keith Lesser, partnering Nick Macey. WWW.ACTIVEEUROPE.COM - THE NEW ENTRY SYSTEM WEBSITE FOR ENGLISH RACKETLON! 27th February - Entries, Entries, Entries 27th February - Heston, Heston, Heston. 9th February - Heston Dates 8th February - West Midlands Next Generation - NICE! 7th February - Eastbourne Camp 7th February - Thurrock Doubles Tournament, April 23rd. 7th February - World Champs, maybe another year! 26th January - 2007 World Championships Update! 26th January - New Calander! 26th January - ActiveEurope.com partnership possibility! It is an online registration and sports events listing webite. It allows you to design the entry form, place adverts and information on their site and upload the entry list. It is pretty cool allowing a whole host of database management tools. It will cut out a lot of administration. They charge 10%, so about £3.50 an entry. I am really happy about this for the future because it should cut the time volunteers input into receiving entries, web updates and banking. All the foreign players can pay online (they have a shopping cart system - much better than paypal). This could shape the future of all tournaments. We wont have an entry form on Word as such it will all be done through the ActiveEurope System. With 237,000 users across Europe and 45,000 users subscribed to their mailing list, this could be a huge step forward for racketlon promotion. There is preliminary agreement to launch a racketlon focussed newsletter to their members, as part of the package. 26th January - Racketlon.co.uk refurbishment! 26th January - Latest Entry News! 26th January - Manchester Open 26th January - Racketlon Development 26th January - Eastbourne Training Camp. 25th January - Tournament Progress! 25th January - Heston Racketlon Club Launch! Dear All, I am proud to launch the first training session of our new club. Sunday 29/1/06 between 6-9pm. 2 courts per sport are booked at a cost off £12 per person who is not a member of David Lloyd. You can pay either on arrival or departure, reception will keep a list of players attending. There will be a group of players based in the multi-purpose sports hall...if this is your first racketlon experience, why not, come and have a go. I started off rubbish at three sports and now im addicted to improving! Use of the swimming, sauna and steam room is also included. See you there! Keith 25th January - Racketlon.com news story! 23rd January - Who will be the 1st British Champion? 17th January 2006 - Extracts from the 2006 Racketlon.com ***Press Release*** Certainly, we will look to hold another competition in our most seasoned racketlon venue at David Lloyd Heston. The launch of a series monthly Club nights is a very exciting development as a pilot for other David Lloyd or branded clubs. The Heston Racketlon Club is coming! Furthermore, we hope to breathe new life into the racketlon.co.uk website and with regular news and calander updates, UK Racketlon is set to grow and grow! For sure, we have already started the irresistable task of planning the proposed 2007 World Championships. This news has brought further joy to sports fans across the island, already ecstatic at the news of the 2012 Olympics. 2007 World Championships Breaking News Development - Already short listed Manchester Sport City zooms to the top of the list for what is likely to be the biggest ever racketlon event held on the globe. The venue for both The National Badminton Championships and The National Squash Centre (holding a series of huge squash competitions) - 7 courts, as well as an indoor tennis centre (6 indoor and 6 outdoor courts). Also, in close proximity to the Manchester City Centre, Sport City also hosts The City of Manchester Stadium (48,500 capacity) and The National Cycling Centre, this complex has huge potential for a racketlon event. Indeed, this is the very place where Stefan Adamsson spectated the British Squash Open last October and where the Commonwealth Games were held in 2002. 17th January 2006 - Racketlon.co.uk launches 2006 Racketlon Calander 16th January 2006 - Racketlon.co.uk launches The 2006 British Championships. |
