Application Deadline Postponed for English Open
Date: 2002-09-22
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English racket players are still struggling to summon their forces in order to meet the challenge posed upon them by the Swedish "invasion". The top Swedish racket players will cross the North Sea for the Racket Sports UK English Racketlon Open to be played in London on the weekend of 5th-6th of October. Therefore, the application deadline has been postponed by another week until Monday 30th of September. The captain of the English World Open Racketlon Team, former table tennis internationalist Mike Auchterlonie appeals to the best English Racket players to enter the event in fear of the English being "totally humiliated" by the Swedes. Applications should be e-mailed to English_Racketlon@Hotmail.com More details about the event can be found in the invitation (under EVENTS on the Racketlon.com startpage).

It is already clear, however, that this will be one of the more interesting racketlon tournaments ever played with several entries of high quality, many of which are new to racketlon and have never faced each other before. Here is a sample:

David Lazarus (England) - has represented Essex in table tennis, tennis and squash. Plays badminton at club level. New to Racketlon.
Nicolas Sene (France) - enjoys high positions on the French ranking lists in badminton (#20), squash (#45) and tennis ("2:eme serie"). "Little" competition experience from table tennis. New to Racketlon.
Mike Auchterlonie (England) - former table tennis internationalist and good standard tennis player. (Also, initiator and chief organizer of English Open.)
Steve Thomson (Scotland) - national level badminton player and presently #1 on the Scottish Racketlon ranking
Katie Buchanan (Scotland) - Presently #1 on the Scottish ladies' Racketlon ranking - and #5 in the World.

In addition, there is a German group of 4 people on the application list with a background in Mehrschlägerturniere (German variants of Racketlon, see www.4und5-schlaeger-turnier.keyspace.info - a German website under construction). The Germans are, like the English, planning to use English Open as a trial for their national team that will take part in the team event of Gothenburg Racketlon World Open (read more on the team event under EVENTS on the Racketlon.com startpage).

And then there is, as said, the "Viking Invasion"... The top 3 on the Swedish Racketlon ranking list (all with positions on the Racketlon World Top Ten list) have entered together with another 3-4 Swedish Elite Racketlon players. This Scandinavian challenge to the UK has sent waves of provocation through parts of the British racket communities. See e.g. the "Grapevine" article on racketlon and English Open published on www.squashplayer.co.uk Chances are that the promotional effect of articles like that will make the British resistance stronger. But strong enough?.. is a different question.

New to Racketlon? Find out more about the sport through this introduction.

 

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