Closing the Gap?
Date: 2005-05-23
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This year's Swedish Championships were characterised by a big (huge in fact when put in relation to recent years) Juniors class, expected winners in the Men's and Ladies' Elite classes and a veteran comeback. The Men's Elite class is starting to look more and more interesting with several players obviously trying very hard to close the gap to the dominant Magnus Eliasson, and after a squash loss by 18-21 to Adamsson and a remarkably small (12 points) over-all victory over Fagerström that gap is possibly(?) getting smaller.
Olle Benéus, himself a successful participant, reports
below from the 2005 Swedish Championhips that took place during
the weekend.
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In a strong line-up, containing several world top ranked
players, Magnus Eliasson once again came through as the
strongest. In the final against Stefan Adamsson he had a solid
start with 21-18 in table-tennis and 21-15 in badminton. The
audience (almost 100) expected yet another fitness exhibition
from Eliasson in the squash set but Adamsson played with great
stamina and skill resulting in an unexpected victory by 21-18.
Eliasson actually became tired (not often seen!) from rescuing
many near winners from Adamsson's racket. But in the deciding
tennis set Eliasson showed us all how fast he can recover his
strength and effectively stopped Adamsson's hope of winnig the
title by attacking down the backhand corner with volley
follow-ups. The tennis ended at 16-9 putting the end difference
to +13.
It must also be noted that both Mathias Fagerström (lost by only
12 points to Eliasson in the semi) and Christian Wall deserve
credit for their performances. Both players upset the seedings by
reaching the semi-finals; Wall by beating Mats Källberg by 2
points recovering from an initial 0-21 loss in the table tennis,
Fagerström by taking advantage of the fact that Rickard Persson
had to cancel. These guys look strong enough to be serious
competitors to anyone on the international scene later this
season.
Lilian Druve, world ranked no 1, did what was expected of her but
impressed nevertheless by her ability to focus throughout the
tournaments. This time she kept on winning all sets until Linda
Jansson finally broke the pattern with a tennis victory (but
taken after the match was decided). Lilian tells us that Linda is
sure to successfully take on the international elite in the years
to come.
With Pär Carleke absent, Veterans +45 had no certain outcome. At
53 years of age Olle Benéus came back as a winner defeating
former World Championship runner up Staffan Myrdal in the final.
The match was decided by a gummi-arm tie-break during which
Myrdal pushed a volley 5 cm beyond the baseline. Lars Wallblom,
3:d place, entered +45 as favourite but lost in a tight semi
against Benéus. It seems clear, however, that he could become a
dangerous competitor even to Pär Carleke in the future.
Never have there been more Juniors entering this tournament. 14
guys gave proof of great potential. It will not take long before
we can see our new Junior champion Elias Evergren take on
opponents in the elite. In a close final he won against Felix
Reichard by +7.
Andreas Nilsson took the bronze by beating Claudio Arrano.
The magnificent organizer, Lennart Eklund, was beaten for the
senior's bronze, but had the biggest round of applause at the
prize ceremony. He gracefully gave all credit to his hardworking
staff that made this classic tournament with a history of over 15
years(!) a success.
For full results, see tournament
homepage.
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