It's the Pat & Paul Show in Peterborough!

Patrick Osborn and Paul Norton were the top performers in the 5th Karakal UK Racketball Series event of 2025, the 31st May Cambridge Open in Peterborough! Both coming through with medals from the singles and doubles categories!

The Peterborough Sports Club seems to be going from strength to strength each time we visit, this year no exception with all the courts having been redone and looking incredibly smart with some other really great touch ups around the club too. Making it a real pleasure to be running the event there! In addition to this, Peterborough has a really vibrant and busy Racketball community and it was lovely to see so many local faces in the draws, particularly in the Ladies B grade which had four new players in it, all doing really well in their first UK Racketball series event.

It was a busy day across all the draws, with some great lineups and all categories being well subscribed. Starting off with the doubles this time round, and we were able to split into A and B Grade categories once again which was really nice as it gave some of the more social doubles players a chance to get some balanced matches against others of their own level. In that event, the dynamic Dover duo of Tyler and Waller took their second B Grade doubles win of 2025, proving to be canny operators together! The A Grade was won by Patrick Osborn and his late stand in partner Ted Jeal who filled in for Zoe Fennell. They took down current doubles series leader Paul Norton and his new partner Steve Smith, who himeslf had stepped in for Knockers regular team mate Craig Chappell in his absence.


Yet another strong over 70 draw, and yet another big batch of brutal battles. In the end, the current top dog Ian Graham fought his way through the pack to claim another Series title, but he was pushed well throughout the day, showing that whilst he sits at the top currently, the others really are not far behind and are snapping at his heels.

A full 16 drawer for the over 60s once again was great to see, this is definitely the busiest age category in our Series and we always get a great mix of players across the stages. Darren Withey doing well to take down second seed John Cordeaux in a hard fought semi-final before falling just short against Patrick Osborn in the final. Pat having a great day at the office coming away with both singles and doubles titles! Also looking very good for the over 60s Nationals next month!


The over 50s was missing quite a few of its regulars, but one still remained and he did the damage on the day! Chris Morris returning to series action once again after being part of the successful Shropshire over 50s county team that won the ICC Masters title in May. He took the Over 50s title without dropping a game on the day, Tim Millington his final opponent doing very well to battle past Nick Billington in the group stage to get to the last round. An over 40s again missing a few of the big names at the top was nevertheless really well contested. Steve Smith dropping down an age group doing really well to get past a battling Colin Griggs in his group. This lead to an entertaining final match between Smith and his doubles partner for the day Paul Norton, two very classy players using all corners of the court with great accuracy and creativity. The final result ended up with Norton taking his first over 40s title of 2025, a great day's work with the runner up spot in the doubles too! 


A very competitive B Grade draw was won by Sam Morris, taking out fellow England Squash coach Tommy Meadows in a very tight two nil battle, both games going down to the wire with very little in between. Tommy has been showing some impressive improvement over the last 12 months, and is nudging himself towards being an A Grade regular! Sam also very much on the cusp himself! 

As previously mentioned, it was great to have a well subscribed Ladies B Grade with a number of local players involved, and it was one of these that ended up coming away with the title! Steph Horner defeating Lindsey Ransley to take the win in her first ever UK Racketball Series event! Ccongratulations to both players and we really hope to see them and the rest of the Ladies involved in the Series going forward.


The Ladies A Grade featured four players all battling out for key England positions, with the fifth Sam Mueller playing her second UK Racketball Series event since coming back from a bit of time away from the game. So a really high level of competition! In the end, Becky Symmonds took the title after four hard matches, having a great 2/1 final battle with Jasmin Kalar in the final. Doing her September Cardiff International Teams England selection chances the world of good! Finally, the Open A Grade. This was won in emphatic style by Dylan Kalar, who has now secured his England spot for September by taking the title. He was clinical throughout the day, his retrieval skills and court coverage proving too much for his opponents to breakdown. It’s great to have some newer “younger” (ha) faces like Dylan and his sisters Danni and Jasmin involved in the series, really positive for the growth of the game!


So a really great day over in Peterborough with a lovely bunch of players at a top venue. We will definitely be back there again next year as it is fast proving to be one of our most popular Series events! 


You can find all of the results here:

https://www.sportyhq.com/tournament/view/Event-5-2025-Cambridge-Open-1st-June-Peterborough​

...and photos from the day on our Facebook album here. 

​www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1648178882796326&type=3

Next up is the Open and Ladies Inter Counties in Wolverhampton followed by the first ever Welsh open! Busy times!