Our 4th event of the Karakal UK Racketball 2024 Series took place in sunny Bristol on 20th April. Another sell out event, it was great to see so many of our Series regulars back in action alongside the local talent!
With every category well invested in, we had some really great battles across the day with some upsets and well earned victories along the way. Kicking off with the O70's event, E3 winner Ian Graham was back in action and he had a strong draw of Graham Greensall, John Herbetko and Stephen Uttley to get past. There were some really great matches in each round with some fantastic movement and ball skill on show from the older players. Graham coming through as Champion but pushed all the way in each match. An incredibly strong Over 60s draw featured a number of National Champions and Series event winners duking it out. Box 2 featuring really tight matches between Robin Chipperfield, Gary Preston, John Cordeaux and Mark Banfield. In the end it came to a 3 way tie between Cordeaux, Banfield and Chipperfield to see who got through to face the inevitable Patrick Osborn in the final. Chipperfield scraping through based on games won/lost over the other two! In the end though, Osborn once again proved his class at this category, taking down a valiant effort from Robin 2/0 in the Final. Another punchy category in the O50s gave us some more great games, notably Paul Dodds battling past Tim Gillingham 2/1 and then only just losing out to Andy Hopwood in the semi 12/10 in the 3rd. Hopwood then lost out to Chris Wase in a tight 2/0 final, Wase back to winning ways for his first Series title of 2024. Ryan Loska continues to impress in the O40s category and this weekend was no exception as he came through the draw without dropping a game. A great match up vs Natalie Lawrence in the first round (a past Ladies O40s National Champion herself) was great to watch. Barry Talbot pushed him hard in the final, the big Shropshireman doing well to get past Adam Giles in a 2/0 semi final win. Loska keeping his early push at the top of the Series rankings with this victory, his third of the 2024 season! It was great to have another Ladies event running, with 6 players from the Bristol and Devon area. Padel supremo Roxy Keshavarz made it through to the final with two well fought wins, facing Devon's Jo Perriam in the last match of the event. Perriam upsetting the odds with some great straight hitting and ball control, winning a tight 2/0, 12/10 in the second game. Let's keep getting these Ladies entries in! The Mixed B Grade was very well subscribed with a great depth to the 16 player draw. A lot of the pre event top dogs fell by the wayside to new faces or unknown players. Kudos to Mike Wardle for battling it out to the 5/6th place position as an O50s player! In the end, the mercurial Nick Jenkins got through to face newbie Karl Becker in a very entertaining and well fought final. Jenkins taking his first Series title of 2024, 2 games to 1 over the Stourbridge man. The ever entertaining Doubles event provided us with the usual mix of quality, chaos and confusion, with some very well balanced match ups across the groups. The big upset coming in the semi finals, as the ''experienced'' pairing of Osborn & Cordeaux overcame the much fancied local duo of Quarterman & Wood in a brilliant 2/1 battle. The O60 Doubles National Champions showing their nous and courtcraft to great effect. They did however come unstuck in the Final against the classy pairing of Norton & Chappell, both of whom have won numerous Doubles Series titles to date. This win takes Norton clear of Ryan Loska in the new Doubles Series rankings, Loska falling at the group stage with his partner Keshavarz. Last year's inaurgal Doubles MVP showing his quality once again! Finally to the A Grade / Open draw. It has been great to see the consistent quality and depth of entry for these events this year and this time was no exception, with the likes of reigning Series Champ Alexis Smith, ex South African PSA Pro Gareth Naidoo, Series event winners Olly Staunton, Jason Russell, Paul Norton and Alex Kershaw all in the mix. In the end it was a bit of a suprise final, with Bristol player Chris Wood coming through the bottom half of the draw really well with great wins vs Kershaw & Staunton on the way. Naidoo taking down Alexis Smith in a quality semi final was another upset win, the smooth movement and controlled line hitting not allowing Smith's natural attacking game to come to fruition. In the final Naidoo continued in this vein, not allowing Wood any leeway to be aggressive with his play, taking the win 2/0 and being a worthy Champion. While he can't unfortunately enter the British Nationals, he certianly will be one to watch out for in the Open in October! A big thank you to everyone who got involved across the day. It was great to see you all in action! All photos from the event are up on our Facebook page here: www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1355045525442998&type=3 For the full draws and results from the day please check out Sporty HQ here: www.sportyhq.com/tournament/view/Event-3-Central-England-Open-Bristol Thank you to the Redland Green Club for hosting us once again, and of course our Series sponsors for all their support and for enabling us to keep these events running so smoothly for everyone. See you all at the next one!
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We are back to Redland Green Squash & Tennis Club in Bristol for another year and another sell out event!
It has been great to see the continuing trend in our UK Racketball 2024 Series of events selling out, and Bristol on the 20th April is another busy one. With all categories well subscribed and some really interesting battles in every draw, this will prove to be an exciting day of Racketball matches. The O70s continues what could prove to be a season long duel between Graham Greensall and Ian Graham. Ian took the North East Open win over Graham last month, is it time for Greensall to get revenge? We can see these two having some good throw downs across the 2024 Series! A busy O60s draw of 10 players also has a very punchy line up. Patrick Osborn and John Cordeaux in opposite boxes, seeded to meet in the Final, but will have to get past the likes of top Series regulars Robin Chipperfield, Mark Banfield and Dave Merchant to reach it! The O50s has increasingly seemed the most consistently strong category of the Series, and this round is no exception. Chris Wase leads the draw as top seed, but has two 2024 Series category winners to get past to take the win (Dodds and Hopwood), alongside a number of other quality local players. Learning his lesson from last event, no Doubles this time round for the Shropshire man! The quality continues on the O40s as we see a really great depth to the line up. Featuring the likes of Ryan Loska, past Ladies O40s National Champion Natalie Lawrence, 2023 British Open Semi Finalist Barry Talbot and 2023 British Open Finalist Adam Giles, this will surely throw up some great tussles. Loska currently joint leading the 2024 Series rankings, can he continue his strong start to the season? A bumper B Grade draw of 16 players is great to see, with a number of Series regulars (up the Dover and IOW / Dorset crews!) mixing in with some new to the Series local faces. James Dean sits as top seed having reached the semi in Broxbourne earlier in the year. He will have a really tough route to the win if he is to get there though, with Steve McClelland, Nick Jenkins, Josh Williamson and Ben Pinfold as notable stumbling blocks. Whoever comes through at the end of the day will certainly have earned a pint! We have another busy Ladies draw, with a strong Devon contingent making their way up the M5 to scrap it out with the local players. Padel supremo and ex Edgbaston Priory coach Roxy Keshavarz leads the line up, but will have some good matches against the likes of Devon's Jo Perriam, Karen Bealey, and Bristol's Karen De Klerk. Fantastic to see a 7 player draw here, definitely an upward trend in Ladies entries this year! The Doubles is topped by the dynamic destructive duo of Chappell / Norton, who are looking more and more like the ones to beat as we move onward in 2024. Norton sits at the top of the 2024 Doubles Series rankings so far and the two complement each other well with some quality attacking play. They won't have it all their own way here though, with opposition provided by the experienced British Open & National Doubles O60s Winners Osborn / Cordeaux, plus Loska / Keshavarz and Dean / Jenkins amongst others. Finally, the Open singles sees some already very entertaining 2024 rivalries renewed, with reigning UK Racketball Series Champion Alexis Smith leading the line up. Norton sitting at second seed looking to usurp his long time sparring partner, but they will also have to contend with Essex based South African ex PSA player Gary Naidoo, alongside the likes of Jason Russell, Alex Kershaw and Olly Staunton, all who have some quality Series pedigree! Can't wait to get the ball rolling in a week and a bit. Full draws and schedules can be found on Sporty HQ here: www.sportyhq.com/tournament/view/Event-3-Central-England-Open-Bristol No live stream this time round due to the court set up unfortunately, but you can keep an eye out for the updates on our UK Racketball Instagram and Facebook pages across the day! Another action packed 2024 UK Racketball Series event took place at Hallamshire Squash and Tennis Club on Saturday 23rd March. This tournament, sponsored by Abbeydale Brewery had the largest entry for a One Day Series event at the venue to date, so it was great to see a load of new faces mixing in with the Series regulars throughout!
Kicking off with the Open this time and a strong draw of 8 players gave us some quality matches across the duration of the day in their groups. Notable upsets being Jason Russel and Paul Norton getting the better of Broxbourne's Champion Colin Griggs in their group stage matches. Last year's Open grade winner and reigning O35s National Champion Mike Tolman proved however to be too strong throughout, not dropping a game across the day, taking out well deserved finalist Norton 2/0. He remains the man to beat in Yorkshire! We had a strong three player Ladies draw, featuring two locals in Holly Moore and Kate Martin alongside tournament organiser Nicky Horn. There were some really good matches in this three way best of 5 game showdown, the local derby between Moore and Martin being particularly close. In the end though Horn showed her quality (having won past titles) and came through vs the others without dropping a game. Martin finishing second after getting past Moore in a tight 3/1. Here's hoping to see the three in Ladies Intercounty action this year! A busy 8 draw in the B Grade featured a good mix of local players and travelling Series regulars. (Kudos to Tommy Meadows for making the trip from Dover!) In the end though the ever solid Steve McClelland battled his way through the day to take the title, though he was pushed well by Tim Millington in the final, where a 2/0 scoreline probably didn;t do him justice! A smaller draw in the 40s nonetheless featured some great best of 5 game matches, with a brutal battle between Jon Davies and Barry Talbot finishing 15/13 in the 5th to the tall Shropshireman. However, neither player could make much headway against the solid gameplay and concentration of Ryan Loska, he took the win without dropping the game and now sits at the top of the 2024 Series rankings after 3 events with Paul Norton. Watch out everyone! The Over 50s category seems to be going from strength to strength, and this event was no exception, with some quality players spread across the three boxes leading into semis and finals. In the end Wase, Muirhead, Wapnick and Davies battled through some very tough encounters to take the semi finals. Craig Wapnick causing a big upset in the age category, taking out Chris Wase 2/1 in a great match, both leaving it all on court. Wase possibly regretting his choice to play the Doubles too! The Over 60s event was also well subscribed with a good mix of local northerners and a few travelling contenders! Both finalists Robin Chipperfield and Graham Holmes were pushed hard in their preliminary matches, having to come through some close 2/1 wins along the way. Chipperfield's variety of spins and tricks combined with his fantastic reach proving too much for Holmes in the final, taking the win 2/0. A strong Over 70s line up featured some heavy hitters in the age group. 4 out of the 6 players all having won either Series or National titles! Ian Graham making a return to the UK Racketball scene after a couple of years out looked in good form, managing to win the event without dropping a game along the way, including taking down current National and British Open Champion Graham Greensall in the final. One to watch out for as the Series unfolds! The ever entertaining and creative Doubles event was as busy as ever, with 9 pairs thrashing it out across two boxes. With some very experienced players in the mix, there were some really competitive games and it certainly seems that the game of Racketball Doubles is really developing in it's own right, based on what we saw on the day! In the end, top seeds and regular partners Chappell/Norton made their way through to the final to face off against Loska/Kershaw. All 4 players having won Series Doubles titles, so some serious pedigree! The top dogs however didn't disappoint, and took a well earned win 2/0. Cementing Norton's place at the top of the inaugral Doubles Series rankings (over Loska in second place!) A great day of games at one of the top clubs in the country. What more could you ask for! A big thanks to Hallamshire for hosting us again and for being such a top partner to the UK Racketball Series. Also to Abbeydale Brewery for their continued sponsorship support of our events there! If you want to check out the day's results you can do so HERE And for the latest on the UK Racketball Series rankings after 3 events HERE And for the Doubles Series Rankings HERE See you all next time! The third event of our increasingly busy 2024 Karakal UK Racketball Series kicks off at Hallamshire Squash & Tennis Club in Sheffield on Saturday 23rd March. Hallamshire has been a long time partner of UK Racketball, hosting the North East Open for a number of years, and then more recently the three major British Open Racketball Championship events. The Sheffield club has got a fantastic set up for events with a lovely bar and social area combined with some of the top courts in the UK< so we can't wait to be back there again! We are lucky enough to also have the support from local business Abbeydale Brewery, who's quality range of beers have long rehydrated our hard working Racketballers at Hallamshire. This time they are kindly providing the category winning prizes so some extra bonuses for those who come out on top! Now on to the action and the ones to watch! Another busy and high quality line up in the Open/A Grade event pits last year's Champion and Yorkshire RB stalwart Mike Tolman against a punch line up of challengers. Featuring Broxbourne's A Grade Champion Colin Griggs, other Yorkshire legend Paul Knocker Norton, and previous A event winners Alex Kershaw and Craig Chappell amongst others, this will not be an easy ride for the big left hander! The Ladies Open features another 3 Yorkshire players, locals Kate Martin and Holly Moore will continue their club rivalry alongside tournament organiser Nicky Horn, a previous Ladies event winner herself!
As usual the B Grade is very hard to call, with a lot of regulars all in the mix. Steve McClelland possibly the top dog in this one but he will certainly have his work cut out with 4 tough matches guaranteed along the way. A smaller O40s line up means a 3 way best of 5 game shootout between Barry Talbot, Ryan Loska and Jon Davies, all quality players so some top battles on the cards! Loska in particular looking to get back to winning ways after losing out to Alexis Smith in a high quality Broxbourne final in February. There is another strong draw in the O50s, with 2024 Series event winners Paul Dodds and Andy Hopwood lining up against a whole host of punchy opponents, with the likes of Chris Wase, Nick Billington and Jim Muirhead amongst those looking to get their first Series event win of the season. Going to be some very tired legs after this draw! Another 2024 Series title holder heads up the O60s, with Scottish Open winner Robin Chipperfield at the head of the pack. The likes of Mike Fleming (Scottish Open runner up) and Graham Holmes will be looking to get a win on the board though so he will have to bring out all the backhand topspins he can muster to make it through! A solid draw of 6 in the O70s is great to see, with the double major Champion from 2023 Graham Greensall as favourite, but with Colin Cruickshank making his way down from Scotland plus experienced campaigners Ian Graham and Geoff Wright in the mix, it will be far from straightforward for the Warwickshire man. Finally, another busy quality draw in the Doubles highlights this side of the game going from strength to strength! Top seeds are Norton/Chappell but they will be pushed all the way across the day by some of the other pairs like Wase/Davies, Loska/Kershaw and Talbot/Griggs. A highly entertaining day of Racketball battles on the way then! Can't wait to get things rolling. Keep an eye out on the results as they come in via Sporty HQ here: www.sportyhq.com/tournament/view/Event-3-North-East-of-England-Racketball-Open-23rd-March-Hallamshire The strong draw line ups didn't disappoint on Saturday as we had some fantastic battles across all of the categories at Broxbourne Sports Club. Plenty of shocks and suprises from start to finish and some really entertaining match ups too. Check out the draws and results on the below link and read on for our post event wrap up...
BROXBOURNE 2024 In the Over 70's, current National Champion Graham Greensall started his 2024 campaign in imperious form, not dropping a game on the way to winning his first title of this Series. Back from injury and with the bit between his teeth he could well be an early candidate for overall Series success come the end of this year... In the O60's, another National Champion and one-to-beat Patrick Osborn managed to come through a tough draw, battling past local player Richard Hicks in a quality final 2/1, after Hicks himself took down club mate Mark Blake in the semis 2/1. In the Over 50's, it was the turn of the ''youth'' as newly 50 years old Andy Hopwood came through another tough batch of matches, dropping games to Paul Dodds and Mark Banfield on the way to the final, where he faced another Broxbourne legend David Acquet. It was a bit of a topsy turvy match with both players having patches of being on top with some quality hitting, mixed in with some loose errors. Hopwood eventually managing to see it through 2/0 in two tight games. Two of the Series heavyweights were lined up to meet in the O40's final and duly did, in a high quality match of the event. 2023 Series Champion Alexis Smith taking on previous Champion Ryan Loska in a brutally tight 2/1 battle in well over 40 mins of play. Smith's aggressive attacking play eventually managing to break through Loska's relentless retrieval and absorbing play, 11/8 in the 3rd. The fist pump and shout from the usually taciturn Smith highlighting how good a win it was! A very busy 16 draw in the B Grade threw up some great games all the way through and it was great to see some new faces in the mix. In the end it was Dover's Stu Tyler, Essex's Mike Bagguley, Poole's James Dean and Aylesbury's Tristan Vasey who made it through the boxes to the semis, with Bagguley putting Tyler's great run in the comp to an end 2/0 and Vasey battling past Dean 2/0 in a long duel between two very similarly styled players. Another great match ensued in the Final, ending up with Bagguley taking his first UK RB Series title (leaving Vasey rather despondant having missed out for a third time of asking at the Finals stage!) A promotion to the A Grade looks to be on the way... We had a great line up in both the Open and the Doubles categories, with 8 and 16 draws repectively. Some of the top regular Series players came to the party in both the draws and the quality was really high throughout the day. In the Open, Colin Griggs came through his box without dropping a game, a strong 2/0 performance vs Callum Arnott a notable effort. In Box Two, Oliver Staunton continued to show his impressive improvement in the game, as he beat the likes of Norton / Kershaw and Russell to get through to the Final. (Bearing in mind he only moved into A Grade at the start of last year from B!) However, the days efforts took its toll on the legs of the Hampshire man as the relentless Griggs dominated the T and didn't allow him to get any real foothold in the game, taking it 2/0. The Doubles was an incredibly strong line up (perhaps the strongest in depth we have ever had) and it threw up a whole host of upsets along the way. Pre event ones to watch Phipps/Strong and Kershaw/Staunton not even making it out of the group stages! It came down to a Final between two underdog sides, Luke Bishop & David Marshall taking on Patrick Osborn & Gary Naidoo having both recorded some superb wins across the day. In the end the nous of the incredibly experienced (possibly more than anyone on the circuit now!) Osborn and the quality lines and retrievals of Naidoo were too much for the other pair to get past, taking the match and the title 2/0. It was fantastic to see such high quality Doubles play across the day and so many sides involved, getting to the point that we need an A and B Grade Doubles category now! A big thank you to all who took part and the club for hosting us once again (on what was a very busy day generally for the venue.) We look forward to coming back next year! For those who missed out on getting into the event this time, we hope to be able to make it possible for more entries next year. Finally, if you want to catch up on some of the matches, you can see the World Squash Federation's (thanks Pat Osborn) coverage of the event Court 1 matches on this Youtube page: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_w3U7IewDE&list=PLaEQmbckDBIs8f92jlMNubfqSAWgXbeRI |
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