Central open Bristol Series Event 4 Round Up

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!