With the first Racketlon tournament in South Africa coming up in the end of July Racketlon is about to reach a new continent! A multi-racket tournament is known to exist on the French island "La Reunion" outside the eastern coast of Madagascar (it is visible on the map above for those with good eyes) but Racketlon as the FIR now defines is not known to have taken place anywhere on this vast continent.
Racketlon breakthroughs in new European countries (adding to Finland, Sweden and Austria, that were the only countries with Racketlon traditions before Gothenburg 2001 when international Racketlon began), have become many over the last few years. As seen by the following summary:
2002:
August: Scotland
October: England
2004:
June: Belgium
July: Bulgaria
August: Germany
October: Poland
2005:
April: Czech Republic
2006:
February(?): Hungary
April: The Netherlands
2007:
June: Switzerland (coming up!)
...but Racketlon reaching new continents is (for obvious reasons...) not quite as common;
America: March 2004 (Canada)
Australia: April 2004
Asia: May (Hong Kong) and June (Malaysia) 2006
The 28-29 July it is time for Africa, the last of the five continents! Patric Kalous, based in Cape Town but with Czech ancestry is the tournament director that intends to write history with the first "Cape Open" to be held at the facilities of the University of Cape Town. And a South African Tour is in the pipe including a "South African Open" in capital Johannesburg planned for the beginning of December.
For more information, please refer to the Racketlon.com EVENTS section. Or go directly to the TOURNAMENT section of the fresh (only a couple of weeks old) homepage of South African Racketlon; www.racketlon.co.za
To register for the tournament click the link to its Entry Engine! (Allegedly, the top 4 male badminton players of the Western Province have already registered!)
/H