South African Tournaments

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Please visit www.racketlon.co.za to enter 4 planned tournaments for
2009.
Racketlon.com Entry Engine entries for :

WP Open
SA OPen
3rd Cape Open
Donic Cup

Hope to be seeing you there.

Kind Regards

RSA

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The Western Province Open is being held this Sunday the 1st March and
draws are online. The venue University of Cape Town. A 43 strong
field comprising mainly of Men’s A section with a few Ladies and
Juniors. Although a poor turnout for juniors this time round the SA
Open end of March will concentrate on increasing junior participation
and therefore insuring Racketlon’s future in South Africa.
The Ladies draw sees the return of a familiar face, of Nadya
Ritchewald will be going for her 3rd title with Iris Gabel and Lauren
Vezasie hot on her trails. Lauren is doing extremely well on the
ladies tennis circuit and Iris is a good all-rounder recently founded
a well needed German School badminton club.
The juniors will be fought out between Angelo Yiatses , Richard Gabel
(German School) and Mitchell Nixon (Pupps). New comer Jamie Mcmanus
may surprise.
Mens B will be lead by number 1 seed and badminton specialist Eugene
Conradi from Stikland club and long time missing in action Elton
Lemboe at number 2 seed. However with the 6 first time Racketlon
players anything can happen.
The Mens A is an interesting draw, 24 players from all backgrounds. A
very strong badminton contingency from Goodwood club and top players
such as Dorian James, Brent James and Christos Yiatses, not forgetting
the ever improving Willem Theart. From the Squash side Richard Gore
and Markus Te Vaarwerk both from Camps bay 1st league. Another from
Camps bay is current number 1 seed in SA David Darlington who is ever
so confident. However recent B section players who proved too strong
have opted to play in the A section and can topple anyone in their way
are Gavin Smith and Doug Wilson. Representing the tennis players is
top WP coach Grant Williams who has started and popularized Beach
Tennis, Grant is an avid squash player and one to watch in the future.
Missing from our lineups are Richard Hallick, Belford Hendricks,
Rodney Durbach and Stephen Coppinger, Merold Ruiters and Barry
Fransman who have decide to let others get a chance at Racketlon
Glory.
Further events to keep your eye on are the SA Open on 29th March, the
ever successful 3rd installment of the Cape Open and a brand new event
in November over 2 days including doubles and mixed, aiming to attract
100 strong the DONIC CUP.
Hope to see you all there.
RSA

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The WP Open took place on a blistering hot 36 degrees Sunday. Player’s
tactics were to win before the tennis, but everyone had the same idea,
none the less there was plenty of tennis to be played and enjoyed by
all.
Juniors were won by newcomer Jamie McManus and badminton specialist
from SACS School. He brushed through last year’s winner Mitchell Nixon
4-21/21-1/21-17/21-10 winning by 17 points.
Ladies was won by the ever so friendly and upbeat Iris Gabel only just
fending off another badminton specialist and newcomer Stacey Doubell
21-17/9-21/21-6/15-21 winning by 1 point.
Men’s B went to Loftie Ellis in a tough final against returning after
2 year illness Elton Lemboe. Scores were 21-14/5-21/21-7/21-7 winning
by 19 points.
The Mens A section saw quite a few new players, which is good to see.
The last 4 had only 1 newcomer, Grant Williams Tennis pro went down in
Semi final to Patric Kalous 21-10/21-9/21-10, Patric was up by 32
points and there was no need to go to tennis which was luck as tennis
is Patric weaker sport. I’m sure we will be seeing more of Grant.
The other semi was a hard contest as defending champion narrowly lost
to Richard Gore 21-3/17-21/7-21/19-21 giving Richard a close 2 point
win and set him up for his first final against Patric. Patric returns
after his first and last appearance where he reached the Cape Open
final in 2007.
Richard started off well in Table Tennis, Scores were even at 5 all as
Richards’s defensive and cautious game caused some unforced errors
from Patric. But Patric experience in the game proved too strong and
the score went 21-8. The badminton was both players weakest and they
just had to ensure as many points as possible. Richard made it too
easy for Patric to put away a few easy winners, but not before Richard
took a few crafty placed shuttles, score went in favor Patric 21-11.
On to Squash where Richard shines, both players were feeling very
tired after the first few hard hitting rallies. Richard confessed
after the tournament that he was extremely fit, but even he felt
really tired. Racketlon is truly a challenge. Richard took the squash
21-10 although the score line doesn’t reflect the tough battle that
ensued. By 17:30 the sun had set behind Devils Peak and the tennis
courts were shaded by the massive mountain, Patric needed 9 points to
secure victory, Richard plays a cautious game making sure he made no
mistakes. But Patric already well ahead had a psychological advantage
which gave him the confidence to go for the winners. They paid off,
score was 9-8.
Full results on line http://www.racketlon.co.za/Events2009.html and
updated South African rankings available on http://www.racketlon.co.za/Rankings.html
.
Start entering the SA Open and join the fun. Entries in categories
will have limited space.

Players to watch for in the future are Kerr Rogers, Gavin Smith and
Richard Colburn, Grant Williams and Jamie Mcmanus. The SA open coming
up end of this month will prove to be interesting.

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Sunday 29th March will see a glorious sunny day celebrating the end of
Summer, we celebrate it with our 2nd SA Open Racketlon tournament at
UCT.
A lot of brand new faces and a lot of regulars have joined us in this
exciting event.
The ladies are catching on to Racketlon fever and competition is
hotting up. Iris Gabel will defend her number 1 seed position with
vigor as her challengers Nannette de Fonesca (1st league squash
Gauteng), Juanette le Roux (13 seed squash SA from EP) and Suzanne
Ferreira (27 seed squash SA and ex SASSU tennis) Leenta Marx (from
Border) and not forgetting WP top ladies badminton player Stacey
Doubell. The ladies categories is a must see.
The men’s sees number 1 seed David Darlington, WP open runner up
Richard Gore, number 2 seed Christos Yiatses defend their rankings as
new players challenge their hold on Racketlon glory. Steven Brown (an
all rounder and Springbok Table tennis and tennis) seeks to show
everyone what he’s all about and the James brothers Dorian, Brent,
Enrico who dominate SA badminton bring the game to another level.
Juniors see return of Angelo Yiatses, Mitchell Nixon challenged by
newcomer David Levin.

Missing players are Nadya Ritschewald who has an SA Open golf
tournament, Richard Hallick, James Mcmanus, Kerr Rogers and Stephan
Hilpert who will be part of the organization team.

Draws are live on www.racketlon.co.za

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Thanks to all that participated in the SA Open Racketlon Championships
this Sunday. All competitors amateur and professional, supporters and
family and the organization team of Katerina and Stephan. Well done.
The results, Rankings and photo gallery have been updated for all to
see. See the highest climbers and highest new entries. There are some
interesting photographs and some of the best players to take part yet.
All the categories have brand new winners who have taken part for the
very first time in such a tournament, which simply means there is a
vastness of untapped talent out there which we would like to involve
and see in action. We are also in talks with some Event companies who
will make the future tournaments more exciting which will bring
Racketlon to another level and not only great to play but to watch
too.
Juniors were won by newcomer David Levine, a quiet young man whom we
shall be hearing more from in the future.
Ladies B clear winner was Jennifer Price who held off 3 other
newcomers who tied 2nd place.
Ladies A was always going to be a battle, some really hard fought
games from some really talented ladies. Number 1 seed Iris Gabel fell
to Suzanne Ferreira and Nannette Da Fonesca defeat leenta Marx in the
semis. On paper Da Fonesca looked the favorite to win as in Racketlon
the one who is skilled at all 4 sports generally does very well. But
Ferreira is no push over and her high quality Squash and Tennis would
have to be on form. First up table Tennis and Da Fonesca won it 21/10,
she controlled the table well, chopped at every angle and Ferreira was
never really confident. Table Tennis is a game of touch and spin, very
hard to master without many hours practice. Next they took to the
Badminton court, they fought well but again lack of experience saw Da
Fonesca win 21/13 putting her 19 point ahead going into Squash, but
would that be enough?. After the Squash game both players looked
extremely exhausted, both play 1st league and both players don’t give
up easily, Ferreira ended up taking it 21/12 putting her 10 point
behind going to Tennis. Ferreira had to win by 11 points (21/10) if
she were to take the title. Ferreira 1st love and favorite didn’t let
her down as she cruised to a 21/4 victory and SA title.

Mens A was exciting stuff as 1st seed Darlington fell to newcomer
Douglas Webber in the 1st round. In fact only 2 seeds made the quarter
finals but both fell before the final hurdle leaving the semi finals
with 2 new and 2 regulars to fight it out.
First up was the infamous Steven Brown of Camps bay Tennis club
taking on previous WP Open winner Kalous. Steven being an ex Springbok
Table Tennis player brushed Kalous aside 21/5, Kalous tried looping,
blocking and out serving his opponent but had no reply to Browns
consistency and decades of experience. This motivated Kalous to a
surprising 21/6 win in Badminton and 21/1 win in Squash. Kalous led by
19 points going into Tennis which meant only 3 points would ensure
victory. But playing again someone of Browns Tennis capabilities at
9/0 it seemed hopeless. 1 mistake from Browns racket and 2 extremely
lucky but effective table tennis type returns gave him the 3 points
needed. Im sure we will see more of Brown.
Smith had a good tournament so far, he brushed through is opponents
like a walk in the park till he hit a wall, that wall was Douglas
Webber. Maybe not taking his young opponent seriously could have been
his downfall. 21/5 in Table Tennis to Smith was expected but a 21/6
loss in Badminton was not. Webbers specialities are Badminton and
Squash. Squash result 21/4 to Webber. Tennis should have been Smiths
game even though he went into Tennis 16 point behind. But
psychologically it can be extremely hard to gain momentum from such a
deficit. 22/20 and match to Webber.
Kalous got a glimpse of what was come in the final and yet still
managed to give away 4 points in the Table Tennis, it was an untidy
game but necessary to put Webber off. Webber repayed Kalous with a
21/2 win in Badminton (what you can do I can do better) I heard him
mutter under his breath as he had Kalous running corner to corner
keeping the shuttle low and fast. Squash was going to be a battle,
both capable players and extremely fast on the court. The crowd
shrilled as both players reached impossible shots and displayed
impressive agility.21/14 to Webber which put him up 12 point going
into Tennis. Which means that a 21/12 would give Kalous the victory
and Webber needed 14 for his victory. It started of very tenaciously
as no player wanted to make any errors, the wind blew at a fair pace
and sure enough errors were made from both parties. 10/10, it was
looking very close for Webber but Kalous pulled away to 11/18. It
could have gone either way and both players played a skillful,
courageous Racketlon match which was enjoyed by players and spectators
both. Tennis ended 18/14 and Webber was the new SA Open 2009
champion.

Thanks to all who played and supported, watch this space for future
champions David Levine, Douglas Webber, Brent James, Gavin
Smith ,Steven Brown and Nannette da Fonesca and Jennifer Price.
Start entering for the 3rd Cape Open in July.

Racketlon South Africa