The Big British Open Round Up!

On the 5th & 6th October 2024 we had the largest British Racketball Open Championships to date at Hallamshire Squash & Tennis Club in Sheffield. The Maze Property Solutions sponsored event had over 160 entrants across 20 different categories, from Men's & Ladies Open, througgh to O75s and also varying Doubles draws. There were two full days of action across the club's 8 courts, with matches starting at 8am on both, and running through to late.

It was fantastic to have a mixture of Series regulars mixing in with lots of new faces, including Petteri Repo and Tero Manner who came all the way over from Finland to take part! The club also put on a great Saturday night Oktoberfest themed party with a live band and food & drinks deals which really made a fun evening for all involved. Now on to the action...

Event Champions:

Men's A - Mike Harris
Ladies A - Amber Marshall
Men's B - Elliot Smith
Ladies B - Francesca Whyte
Men's C - Joe Walton

O35s - Ali Mutch
O40s - Alexis Smith
O45s - Mat Lowery
O50s - James Powely
Ladies O50s - Tina Wotherspoon
O55s - Mark Francis
O60s - John Cordeaux
Ladies O60s - Liz Arnell
O65s - Mike Phillips
O70s - Ian Graham
O75s - Larry Grover

Open Doubles - Ted Jeal / Billy Jones
Mixed Doubles - Kim Hay / Jack Bishop
O50s Doubles - Dan Fernandez / David Evans
O60 Doubles - Patrick Osborn / John Cordeaux

There were some brilliant matches at all stages of the event with some very hotly contested draws. We could write a dissertation covering them all so instead we will pick some of our top draw battles to highlight...

​- Men's O60s Final: Cordeaux vs Osborn, Doubles partners thrashing it out once more! This one went to and fro, 1/1, 2/2 and then John eventually taking the 5th 11/9 in just under an hour's high brilliant play. Marker Paul Clarke remarked on how cleanly the match was played and in the quality and creativity of the hitting. Osborn does not go down without a fight so this was a brilliant effort from Cordeaux! (Luckily they had already played their 60s Doubles Final!)

- Ladies A Grade Semi: Hay vs Symmons. Having already had a tough 1st round vs Jasmin Kalar, Rebecca Symmons then came up against Nationals finalist Kim Hay in the Semis. It was a really well contested battle, with both players using all corners of the court to good effect, alongside some top retrievals. In the end Hay came through 3/1 winner to reach her second Major final of the year but it was a great example of high quality Ladies Racketball. Both players looking in a good position to achieve England selection in 2025 if they keep this standard up!

- Men's O45s Semis: Gregory vs Lowery AND Loska vs Giles. Two match ups of contrasting styles! The flair and creativity of Gregory & Giles up against the quality movement and consistency of Lowery & Loska. Two matches that swayed back and forth with the games following the same patterns. Lowery and Loska both going 2/1 up but then losing the 4th to take the matches to a 5th and final game. Giles saving match balls in his match to force the issue. Both courts had packed out crowds for the duration and they were treated to two real exhibitions of high class Racketball action. In the end it was the two top seeds Loska and Lowery who prevailed, Loska by a whisker at 12/10 in the 5th game. Fantastic to watch!

- Ladies O60s Final: Sturgess vs Arnell. This was the first time the two had met with Arnell only recently starting on the UK Racketball scene. Sturgess long having been the bane of any challenger in the O60s category went in as favourite, but who knew what the Cornish player had to offer! As it turned out the Helston based left handed player provided a big upset, taking down the top seed 3/1 in a very close game, the 4th going to 17/15 in her favour. A great win in her first UK Racketball Major!

There were so many other great games across the two days, some exceptionally entertaining Doubles duels included. The full results can be found on the event's Sporty HQ page here:

https://www.sportyhq.com/tournament/view/British-Racketball-Open-5th6th-October-Hallamshire

And pictures and video clips of all the action can be found here at our UK RACKETBALL FACEBOOK PAGE

A huge thank you to everyone who took part in the event and made it such a great weekend of Racketball. It isn't just about the match play, there was a super community feel to the event with lots of new friends made across all ages. 

Thanks to Hallamshire and their staff for being so accomodating and hosting us so amazingly. It is a fantastic venue for us to have a big event in and we are always made feel really welcome. Also thank you to our really generous event sponsors, who's support made it possible to give such a great offering to the players:

Maze Property Solutions - Lead Sponsor
Fastview 360 - Associate Sponsor
Karakal UK - Prize Sponsor
Abbeydale Brewery - Prize Sponsor
Bond Adams Solicitors - Water Bottle Sponsor

As always we look to go bigger and better next year so stay tuned and keep an eye out on the 2025 calendar!