Saturday 25th January was the first time ever that we have hosted two different UK Racketball events at the same time, one Series level tournament in Glasgow - the Scottish Open, and the other a Satellite level event in Southampton. Despite some horrendous weather in the lead up to the day, both went off as huge successes!
With 136 players competing across the two events we had a great mix of ages and standards involved. The trial of a B Grade Doubles category went down well, with some Series regulars getting stuck in with local players who hadn't necessarily played so much Racketball Doubles in the past. A positive sign for the growth of that aspect of the game, and something we will look to continue with as and where possible. Full results and draws can be found on the Sporty HQ event pages below: SCOTTISH OPEN GLASGOW TROJANS OPEN SOUTHAMPTON Now to the write up! As we have doubled up on events, we will double up on the categories too! Open / A Grade Singles: A tale of two National Champions! Scottish Champ (and top tournament organiser) Matt Bedwell took his first Scottish Open title, beating Hallamshire's Alex Glencross in the Final. Down South British Champ Mike Harris came through a very busy 12 draw, beating a dogged and hard working Dave Lobo from West Hants in the final. B Grade: Two first time winners! UK Racketball northern stalwart Graeme Manson (Hallamshire again) did brilliantly to battle through a draw of players (quite) a few years younger than him to take his first ever B Grade Series title! At the opposite end of the spectrum, UK Racketball first timer Jamie McNaughton of the IOW came through a tough final vs local boy James Dean to take the win, having not been playing Racketball for too long either! Great to see and we hope to get him in the mix more and more... Ladies: In Scotland Sabrina Tengku Nur certianly had her work cut out as she not only played (and won!) the Ladies event, but also played the A Grade Doubles AND was a late draft in to the B Grade too. Here's hoping that she has recovered by now (8 matches later!) In Southampton, it was another new face who took the win! Local Melannie Hagenau played some lovely Racketball, covering the court brilliantly to take down Phillipa Terry in a really good quality final. Great to see some more new Ladies in the mix! O40s: In Scotland we had three of our O40 big dogs - Loska, Norton & Chappell, all battling it out amongst the cream of the Scottish crop too. In the end it came to reigning Series Champion Loska vs Chappell in the final. In a really quality game with both players consistently hitting all corners of the court and stretching each other hard, Chappell came through a deserved 2/1 winner. At Trojans, it was a draw with a very local flavour, with all 6 players coming from the immediate vicinity! In the end everyone's favourite corkscrew hitter Nick Jenkins did brilliantly to come out on top, taking his first ever O40s UK Racketball Series event title! O50s: As always these were two of our busiest draws at the events, with some top quality players at both. Up North, Nick Billington ended up having to fight his way through pretty much the entirety of the Scottish National team to take his first Series title of 2025. With Nick still in with a chance of England selection come September, this would have been useful scouting out work! In Southampton, two of the current 50's crop most consistent players - Steve Smith & Phil Hall, battled their way through a draw filled with a mix of new local faces and old UK Racketball hands. In the end, the Lefty from Leicestershire was too strong for Hall, taking the win 2/0 and he is looking increasingly like the one to beat in the age group. O60s: A few late drop outs in Scotland led to a flurry of draw changes, dropping it down to one box of 5 players. Mike Wardle from Surrey doing the business admirably well against another load of Scottish national team players, he is also on the cusp of England selection and has had a great first year to date in the age group. Down by the sea the late swap out of Pat Osborn opened up the draw in a big way, with Bexley's Mark Banfield capitilising by taking out his Doubles partner Graham Appleby in a tight 2/0 final win. Another one on the selection march, Banfield has been looking increasingly assured and consistent over the last 6 months or so of UK Racketball action! O70s: North of the border is was time for Father Loska to show ''young'' Ryan how it's done! Paul having a great run of wins against two of the title holding Scottish National team to secure his very first UK Racketball O70s Series title! Top work there and we can expect him to be a force to be reckoned with this 2025 Series. At Trojans we had a quality 4 player group with all involved being top Series regulars. Local West Hants player John Herbetko came through a really great final vs Graham Greensall, his reach and brilliant court coverage being too difficult even for Greensall's nous and experience. Doubles: Finally to the dynamic doubles duos! As mentioned with having A Grade and B Grade Doubles draws, it was great to see some new or less regular Doubles players getting involved in the event. A top final in Glasgow saw O40s finalists Loska/Chappell set aside their singles showdown to take out the punchy pair of Norton & Bedwell. Norton the current reigning Doubles Series Champion will clearly have to upgrade for next time... At Trojans, the father son duo of Steve & Elliot Smith were taken out by the Hampshire duo of Callum Arnott & Alex Kershaw in a very entertaining last match of the day 2/0. The hard and aggressive hitting of the southern duo finding repeated winners across the match. In the B Grade draws, a very tight Scottish group saw three pairs all finishing on 2 wins and 1 loss! In the end, the Hallamshire duo of Dudley & Jackson just pipped Manson & Widdowson by winning one extra game overall! (Although in the H2H they actually beat them anyway so it's fate...) Finally at Trojans it was a first ever Series title for the popular and well supported Dover duo of Tyler & Waller! They overcame the experienced pair of Buckle & Preston, taking the match with aggressive hitting and some top winners. All in all, two top events with a whole host of fantastic players involved. It was great to see loads of new faces mixing in with the Series regulars, and if this is a sign of things to come for this year we can't wait! A massive thank you to Newlands and Trojans for hosting us, and to everyone who helped out at both venues - Matt Bedwell, Ant Stefanelli, Nick Jenkins, Callum Grealsey and many more besides. Picture from Trojans are all on our Facebook page HERE Looking forward to the next one at Broxbourne on the 8th February!
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