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2026 has been a standout year for both UK Racketball and the game in the wider context. With European Squash and World Squash getting more heavily involved in the game and the inaugral officially sanctioned European Cup taking place in October this year, we are at a great position in the sport.
Because of this new major event coming in alongside the already very well established British Racketball Open, British Nationals, and also the International Teams Championships, we have an increasingly busy calendar at the top end of the game. To avoid too much congestion therefore going forwards (2027 Series onwards) this will be the new structure for the Major ranking events: British Racketball Open - moving to March as of 2027, with the first new date being the 12th - 14th March. Still at the fantastic Hallamshire Club who have been great partners with UK Racketball for a number of years. The Hallamshire Series level event will then swap to October 2027 (essentially a like for like date replacement.) British Racketball Nationals - staying in July and at Edgbaston Priory as our primary venue. Exact date to be confirmed for 2027 soon, but we are really pleased to again have such an awesome venue as our lead club. International Racketball Teams Championships - staying in September for 2027 onwards. After discussion with our RASTA Scottish Series friends, we agree that keeping continuity with this date is useful for both of our Road To Selection (RTS) set ups. The response to the creation of this event and everything it has brought to both our Series, plus then the increased pick up of the game in Wales, Jersey and Guernsey has been amazing and we see this as a key flagship event as we move forwards. European Cup - as you are aware we are the inaugral hosts of the European Cup (2nd - 4th October at Hallamshire!). This will not necessarily be the case going forward however, with the aim being that it then gets picked up and shared around our other European nations as the game progresses. (Our Finnish friends have already shown a big interest in taking it on next.) Therefore while this is absolutely a key tournament to keep tabs on, it will not form a direct part of the UK Racketball set up, therefore meaning it’s date could vary year on year. We will be working with the organisers of each year to promote it out as best we can so just make sure you keep an ear to the ground! So this now gives the 2027 (and onwards) UK Racketball Series a much better split of Major events, with it now moving to March - July - September, instead of the current July - September - October set up. We hope this will allow people more opportunity to compete at these high level events. ROAD TO SELECTION 2027 IMPLICATIONS: This change does create a one off issue with regards to the 2027 Road to Selection set up. Namely that we would then have THREE Major ranking events in the July 2026 - July 2027 ranking period. This would create an imbalance in the standings with too many heavily weighted events potentially favouring some players. So this will be the compromise for the next RTS run:
We appreciate that this is a bit fiddly and not ideal, but it is a bit of short term pain for a long term gain and better balance to the Series calendar going forwards. Road To Selection rules will otherwise stay as they currently are set out. If you have any questions regarding the above changes please feel free to drop Mike an email at [email protected] Otherwise we really hope to see you again at another Series event very soon!
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Saturday 7th February gave us our second 2026 UK Racketball Series Double Header weekend, with an East / West split this time. The Silverhook sponsored Broxbourne Open in the East, and the new Rhiwbina Satellite event in Cardiff in the West.
We had an excellent entry for both events, again around 120 players competing between the two venues, Rhiwbina in particular seeing a lot of new Welsh faces involved which was really positive. The Welsh game is growing fast! You can find the results from both events below, alongside the updated Series Singles & Doubles rankings: SILVERHOOK BROXBOURNE OPEN: https://www.sportyhq.com/tournament/view/Event-2A-2026-Broxbourne-Open-Saturday-7th-February RHIWBINA SATELLITE: https://www.sportyhq.com/tournament/view/Event-2B-2025-UK-Racketball-Rhiwbina-Open-Satellite-2025 2026 SERIES SINGLES RANKINGS: https://www.sportyhq.com/ranking/group/1727 2026 SERIES DOUBLES RANKINGS: https://www.sportyhq.com/ranking/group/1995 It was a day of quality performances across the board, but here are some of the notable standout efforts: - The B Grade Doubles destroyers Stu Tyler & John Waller claimed another title without dropping a game in the Broxbourne event, continuing their 2025 dominance. The calls for promotion to A Grade are increasing in intensity... - Regular adversaries Pat Osborn & John Cordeaux were back at it again in the Broxbourne O60s, meeting in the final once more. Cordeaux doing well to battle through some tough early battles against the likes of Fernandez & Muirhead, coming through both 2/1. In the end Osborn got the better of the final, taking it 2/0. Who knows what next round will bring! - Some of the other category top dogs came through their draws unscathed in Broxbourne too, Ted Jeal and Steve Smith without dropping a game in the Open & O50s, Ian Graham being pushed hard by the always hard working and difficult to break down John Herbetko. Great to see these guys back in action in 2026! - Across the boarder in Wales we had a great Ladies draw, featuring a number of UK Racketball first timers! Karen Bealey from Devon doing her England selection chances a lot of good by taking her first title of 2026! - There was some home success for the Welsh players, with doubles duo Rowlands & Kilshaw taking their first ever Doubles title, and Frankie Pill the C Grade title in his first UK Racketball event! Runner up spots also going to Ian Fenner Evans in the O60s and James Turnbull on the O50s draws. A huge thank you to our Broxbourne event sponsor Silverhook for their second year of support. They sorted us out with some great prizes and really added to the player experience! All in all, an awesome day of matches with a top bunch of players! Including some birthday funtimes for one of our faves, Paul Knocker Norton! Can't wait for the next one at Hallamshire in March! Yes that's right, it is our second UK Racketball 2026 Series weekend of the year and another big Double Header is coming our way!
We have two fantastic entry lists lined up for our East / West event split, starting with the ever popular Silverhook sponsored Broxbourne Open in Hertfordshire! https://www.sportyhq.com/tournament/view/Event-2A-2026-Broxbourne-Open-Saturday-7th-February This is one of our longest running Series events and always brings us some brilliant battles and worthy winners across the day's action. All draws are really well subscribed again (another sellout event,) with the O50s and O60s in particular giving us some seriously heavy hitters thrashing it out against each other over the day. Keep an eye out on the updates on the link above as the draws fill out across the day, important England Selection ranking points to be stolen on this one! A massive thank you to club member Peter Iszatt and his company Silverhook for sponsoring the event for the second year. It makes a big difference in what we can do with these tournaments for the players so your support is hugely appreciated! Go well in the C Grade mate! We then head over the Severn Bridge for the second and newest Welsh Series event in the calendar - the Rhiwbina Open Satellite in Cardiff! www.sportyhq.com/tournament/view/Event-2B-2025-UK-Racketball-Rhiwbina-Open-Satellite-2025 This comes off the back of a really positive year for the Welsh game last year, with a sell out Welsh Open in July, and an incredibly well recieved and attended International Teams event in September, both at Cardiff Squash Club. Given the rise in interest in the game over the river we knew it was the right call to have a second Series event there this year! Hosted by the lovely Rhiwbina club, who's committee and players are always keen to drive new initiatives forward, we think this could be a great regular venue for us going forwards. It is great to see so many Welsh players involved in the draws and we hope that this helps continue the positive move forward that the game is having there. Particularly in the Ladies and A Grade draws where local players outnumber the travelling English! Good luck to everyone involved in both events, it should be a great day of action, and thank you to both venues for hosting us. Keep an eye out for results and updates from across the day's play on our UK Racketball Facebook page! We officially started the 2026 Karakal UK Racktball Series on Saturday 24th January with a big North & South Doubleheader weekend!
Running simultaneously we had the Scottish Racketball Open at Newlands LTSC in Glasgow, alongside the Trojans Southampton Satellite event. Over 120 players competing across the various categories at both events which was fantastic to see. You can find the full results from both events here: Scottish Open Glasgow - www.sportyhq.com/tournament/view/Event-1A-2024-Scottish-UK-Racketball-Open-Newlands-Sat-24th-January Trojans Satellite Southampton - www.sportyhq.com/tournament/view/Event-1B-2026-UK-Racketball-Trojans-Open-Satellite-2026 Photos and some video clips from the Southampton event can be found here - www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1845024863111726&type=3 A few notable results from the events... SCOTTISH OPEN: - 2025 Ladies England Captain Jasmin Kalar takes a remarkable Men's B Grade and Ladies Open Double Gold after 6 matches in one day! - Paul Knocker Norton (2025 Series Doubles Champion) resumed business as usual in the category, taking the A Grade Doubles with his partner Matt Bedwell once again. Adding it to the O40s title on the day too! - Ryan Loska swapped the O40s category for the Men's A Grade, and manages to battle through to the final! Managing to take down some of our top Series A Grade regulars along the way. Scottish National Champion and Number 1 Matt Bedwell proving too hot to handle in the Final. - The O70s box draw of 5 players provided us with some brilliant battles across the day. In the end it came down to Paul Loska vs the recently aged up Graham Holmes, both Series regulars at the top end of their age groups. Loska taking a tight 2/1 win to secure his first Series title of 2026! TROJANS SATELLITE: - A really well subscribed Ladies draw giving us some great matches across the day. Local Dorset player Sam Burnand doing well to come through a tough group and then take down Devon's Karen Bealey in a well fought final. - Local Scot (who should really have been playing in Glasgow!) Martin Buchan managed to get through a really competitive and balanced B Grade draw to secure his first UK Racketball Series win. Going so far as to take the B Grade Doubles title with his partner Tom Sanderson too! Another Double Golder for our first outing of the year! - The final match of the day - the O70s Final between John Herbetko and Paul Hudson Oldnall gave us an absolute treat to watch, with it going the full distance, 3/2 and 11/8 in the 5th to the wily Herbetko. Fantastic quality of Racketball from both guys, also lovely chaps to have on the scene! Overall it was really positive as well to see that the new addition of the C Grade draw for the Open category was well recieved, with loads of new faces getting involved in both events. Hopefully this continutes to encourage more players to give the events a go and get in the mix with our great community! Thanks to everyone who played and of course our host clubs for being so welcoming and giving us two great venues to play at. It's the Silverhook sponsored Broxbourne Open and the brand new Rhiwbina Satellite up next on the 7th February. Another double header weekend! The Broxbourne event is sold out already, but there is still space and time to get your name down for the Rhiwbina Cardiff Satellite event if still keen! You can enter via the below link: www.sportyhq.com/tournament/view/Event-2B-2025-UK-Racketball-Rhiwbina-Open-Satellite-2025 Hope to see loads of you there! The 24th January Scottish Open & Trojans Satellite draws are OUT!
We are officially back in Series action Saturday next week with an exciting double header weekend to kick things off. The Scottish Open in Glasgow and Trojans Satellite in Southampton! We have a bumper entry for both events, with the Scottish seeing the largest numbers involved to date. Great to see and a testament to the hard work of the Scottish RASTA Series guys in getting players involved. You can find the line ups for both events in their Sporty HQ links here: Scottish Open - https://www.sportyhq.com/tournament/view/Event-1A-2024-Scottish-UK-Racketball-Open-Newlands-Sat-24th-January Trojans Satellite - https://www.sportyhq.com/tournament/view/Event-1B-2026-UK-Racketball-Trojans-Open-Satellite-2026 If you want to get stuck in to the 2026 Series but missed out on the above, or the already sold out Silverhook sponsored Broxbourne Open on the 7th Feb, we still have space in the brand new Rhiwbina Satellite in Cardiff on the 7th Feb: https://www.sportyhq.com/tournament/view/Event-2B-2025-UK-Racketball-Rhiwbina-Open-Satellite-2025 Can't wait to get going next weekend! |
Our 2026 UK Racketball Series Sponsors!
March 2026
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