Welsh Open Tournament Report

On a soggy Summer Saturday, we took a trip across the Severn Bridge to Cardiff Squash Club for the first ever UK Racketball Welsh Open Championship! 

We were made feel very welcome by both the club management and also the local Welsh players, lots of whom were competing in their first ever UK Racketball Series event. It was great to see them doing battle against our regulars. It certainly seems that a lot of positivity has come from the event, hopefully doing a lot to drive the game forward in the region!

Despite a few late dropouts we had a really good mix of strong drawers across all the age group, and there was a mixture of upset winds and business as usual throughout...


On the upset front, John Herbetko put in a fantastic shift in the over 70s, overcoming a bout of cramp against Andy Mitchell in his tight semi final win, to then take down Mr. Consistent Paul Loska in the final 2/0. A brilliant effort from the Dorset man, who has also managed to secure his England spot in this age group this year!

Another notable win was in the over 40s category, where two of the usual gladiators clashed once again. Alexis Smith this time managing to overcome Ryan Loska with a very long and hard fought 2/1 final win. Smith did well to take down Adam Giles in his group stage 2/0, Loska also overcoming a spirited battle by Paul Norton, winning 2/1.


There was also nearly an upset in the Doubles final, with the current Doubles Series leader Norton partnering up with other top Doubles player Adam Giles to scrape through in a very long and hard 2/1 win. This came against another Mr. Consistent in the category Steve Smith, and his Leicestershire team mate Craig Lloyd. Check out the video for this match when we upload it on our YouTube channel soon, there were some phenomenal rallies and really entertaining exchanges.


In the other draws, an over 60s which was decimated by late dropouts still provided a very strong draw and a finals group of three, with John Cordeaux, Jim Muirhead and Mike Wardle all having a great three-way showdown against each other. Cordeaux coming through as overall winner, showing a good run of form before the British Nationals in two weeks, in which he is number two seed. Steve Smith once again romped through the over 50s category, facing a long time battle partner Chris Wase in the final. Wase himself doing very well to battle through a tough draw with tight games against David Evans and Phil Hall along the way. 


Rebecca Symmons took the Ladies title with two very convincing wins, (congratulations though to Michelle Meadows for achieving her first ever Ladies runner-up spot and her first series medal!) Becky also had a great run in the Open B Grade draw, narrowly losing out to the eventual winner James Dean. He took out a spirited attempt from Tommy Meadow (two silvers for the Meadows clan!!) Both players were fighting for their second B Brade title, with Dean winning it he is certainly looking like pushing himself further into A Grade territory!


Speaking of A Grade, this has to be one of the strongest draws we have had for a while, with some fantastic matches across the day. Luke Bishop on his return to Series action doing very well to come through a very strong group with big wins against Lewis Poole and Ali Mutch. In the end it was a very entertaining final, with Bishop going up against regular hitting partner Mike Harris, both displaying some quality shot selection and creativity, with Harris taking the win 2/0, a tad fortunate that Bishop had the far heavier workload on the day!


So while there were no Welsh medals this time, the locals all acquitted themselves really well and made it a really sociable and entertaining day throughout. We look forward to seeing more of them across our Series event and also hope to increase our Series offering in Wales next year!


A big thanks to the Club for hosting us, we look forward to being back there in September for the International Team event featuring England, Scotland, Wales, Jersey and Guernsey, as the nations do battle across the main age groups for the big title!


All attention now however turns towards Edgbaston Priory in two weeks time for the British National Championships. See you there!
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