Jens Wahlman is the Best Racket Player in Gothenburg
Date: 2001-12-27
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At the local Gothenburg Racketlon Championships, yesterday, top national badminton player Jens Wahlman proved that he is the best racket player in Gothenburg. Jens won the final against Håkan Granberg in a very convincing manner by a difference of +28 points (Table Tennis: 21-20, Squash: 21-9 Badminton: 21-6 !) The final tennis set never needed to be played.

Jens is presently ranked number 6 on the Swedish badminton ranking and also has a history in squash. (At the age of 14 he actually ranked number 1 in Sweden. At that time Sweden's best squash player at present Daniel Forslund ranked only number 2 behind Jens.)

This was Jens' second appearance only in an official racketlon context - the first being in Gothenburg Racketlon World Open last November where he lost to Mika Hasmats in the second round. It seems evident that Jens has improved since then given his impressive performance in yesterday's final against Håkan, presently number 15 on the Swedish racketlon ranking. Admittedly, his badminton never really looked bad but now his squash also seems more reliable as seen from his 21-15 victory against Olle Benéus - a veteran, former top national squash player, who normally has a clear squash safety margin against the other players in the Gothenburg racketlon community.

If it is added to Jens' list of merits that he is a former Ericsson Concern Champion in tennis the Stockhom racketlon community should be warned that there is - at last - a real Gothenburg Racketlon threat coming up. Jens announced yesterday that he has the intention to take part in the next Swedish national championships in May 2002...

The local Gothenburg Racketlon Championships this year was a one-day event for eight people and attracted - apart from Jens and the core Gothenburg racketlon players - two well-known names from tennis; former doubles World Champion(!) Jan Apell and twice Wimbledon quarter finalist Christian Bergström. Both are new to racketlon (although Apell did take part in World Open). For further hard facts and figures from the event see the results.

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