Closer.
2006-05-23
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Stefan Adamsson came very close to beat a Magnus Eliasson in very good shape (as proven by the fact that he beat Mikko Kärkkäinen (for the first time in Finnish Open) two weeks earlier). Ready for take-over?
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This weekend in Enskede Rackethall the Swedish champions were
decided. The men´s elite class is very tough with many players
that are competitive on the World Tour. Only Persson and Helle
were missing in the starting field. There were many well played
matches but no really big upsets. In the first round Swedish
badminton top player Kristian Karttunen played against Mikael
Jonsson. Jonsson who is a very solid racketlon player in all four
sports won by a margin of nine points. But Karttunen showed that
he there is room for improvement. He played well in squash with a
lot of running! If he learns to play tighter he is a solid squash
player, ad badminton to that and he is tough to beat for many
racketlon players.
Men's Class A
Stefan Larsson made comeback in racketlon after a 1,5 year break
due to a broken akilles. Larsson met Christian Wall in second
round and Larsson showed that he has recovered well from that
injury. After 21-17, 20-22, 21-9 Larsson only needed 5 points in
tennis. But Wall showed why his is maybe the best tennis player
in racketlon. With a very impressive 21-4 in tennis and Wall
winning the rubber arm point Larsson was knocked out despite the
good performance.
Quarterfinals
Magnus Eliasson-Anders Rickan:21-15,21-11,21-7 +20
Mathias Fagerström-Christian Wall: 21-16,21-3,21-14 +30
Mats Källberg-Henrik Håkansson:21-3,22-20,21-14 +27
Stefan Adamsson-Joachim Nilsson: 18-21,21-18,21-9,10-10 +12
In the quarterfinals Magnus Eliasson started his march in the
tournament after walk over in the first round. He beat Anders
Rickan easy, 21-11 in badminton is a good result against Anders
and the match didn´t go to tennis. Fagerström beat Wall with a
margin of +30 before tennis. But the squash can go either way and
if Wall had won squash there had been a different margin in the
end. Thats a disadvantage for some racketlon players that
have tennis as their best sport. The match can be over before
they even play their best discipline and miss the advantage of
putting pressure on the opponent physicallly and mentally.
Källberg beat Håkansson and the match didnt reach tennis.
21-14 in squash to Källberg is impressive.
The last quarter between Adamsson and Nilsson was a great
encounter. Nilsson played very well and after 21-18 and 16-10 in
badminton the match looked to go Nilssons way with very good
badminton play. But the match turned around and Adamsson won
badminton 21-18. Nilsson who has improved a lot and specially in
squash he could maybe disturb Adamsson in squash. But 21-9 in
squash and the match was almost over, after 10-10 in tennis it
was over.
Semifinals
Magnus Eliasson-Mathias Fagerström: 21-9,8-21,21-5,7-4 +18
Stefan Adamsson-Mats Källberg: 4-21,21-13,21-4,14-11 +11
Fagerströms chance against Eliasson is to beat him in table
tennis and badminton. He didn´t succeed in tabletennis and then
its tough in the rest of the match to beat the world no.1
Eliasson. Could it be the pimples out rubber that caused the
problems in tabletennis? Fagerström made the match even before
squash. Fagerström who has improved in squash with some nice
shots can maybe upset Magnus in squash but not this time and the
match was almost over after 21-5 in the squash.
In the second semifinal Källberg started out as usual with
astonishing tabletennis. He won 21-4 against Adamsson who played
well
The key sport between these two players is often
badminton. The player who wins badminton has won the match when
they have met before. Adamsson won badminton with 21-13 and
followed up with 21-4 in squash. Adamsson needed 14 points tennis
and the match was alive but no surprices in the tennis and after
14-11 it was over.
Final
Magnus Eliasson - Stefan Adamsson: 17-21,18-21,21-19,21-9 +7
Can Adamsson beat Magnus after a row of lost matches some close
though? Adamsson played well in tabletennis and handled Magnus
new style good. And with few errors from Adamsson he won with
21-17. In badminton showed his great badminton form and
controlled the match up till 19-10. But Magnus struggled back and
showed his strength in the end of the sports and got 18 points.
Just like in Swedish open final earlier this year Adamsson won
table tennis and badminton. Going in to the squash Magnus is
often the stronger one but this time it was not much between
them. Adamsson got an early lead and after that the players
followed each other to the end with Magnus winning 21-19. The
squash match was a big battle with many long rallies, many of
them ending with the players arguing with each other and the
referee. It was two quite tired players in the last sport tennis.
Adamsson needed seventeen points and after a great start with
some forehand winners and the lead with 9-6. After that Magnus
showed started playing very solid and Adamsson missing the some
shots. And with 15! Straight points he secured his 6th Swedish
champion title. Magnus has now beaten Mikko Kärkkäinen and
Adamsson within one weak thats great results with only two
weeks to the World Championships.
Third price match
Mathias Fagerström - Mats Källberg: 6-21,21-5,21-19,19-17 +5
Third price match between Fagerström and Källberg was a match
with two tired players. Table tennis and badminton result was
going as expected with their favourite sports. Fagerströms
squash has improved and he won squash 21-19 not surprisingly.
Maybe Källberg is the better in tennis but Fagerström stayed
focused and won tennis also. Great win for Fagerström!
Ladies
In the Ladies class Linda Jansson, fresh from a victory over
world no 1 Lilian Druve in Prague, faced a bunch of
badmintonplayers with the top player being Sara Persson,
currently ranked 38 in the world and number 1 in Sweden. The five
participants all played each other with the winner being the
Swedish Champion. Lindas goal when she saw the draw was to get at
least 15 points against the other girls in the badmintonmatches.
She almost reached that, getting a total of 13 points in four
matches in the badminton, against the specialists. Luckily for
Linda racketlon consists of three more sports. She played
convincingly in all the other sports with tennis as the best
discipline. She gave 9 points at the most in the tennis. The
match for second place was o close fought battle between Ulrika
Björk and Anna Lundin. Ulrika got the silver medal after an
impressive fightback after losing the tabletennis by 21-4. In
summary, all the badminton gurus impressed with their badminton
skills, and got to play tennis against Linda, the world number 3
in Racketlon.
Results Ladies:
1. Linda Jansson
2. Ulrika Björk
3. Anna Lundin
Linda Jansson Anna Lundin Linda Jansson 24-22,6-21,21-9,21-9 +11
Sara Persson Anneli Andersson Sara Persson 12-21,21-8,9-21,21-7
+6
Ulrika Björk Linda Jansson Linda Jansson 21-10,2-21,21-13,21-7
+14
Anna Lundin Sara Persson Anna Lundin 21-4,13-21,21-8,21-7 +36
Anneli Andersson Ulrika Björk Ulrika Björk
21-7,21-17,21-13,17-21 +22
Linda Jansson Sara Persson Linda Jansson 21-8,3-21,21-721-4 +26
Anna Lundin Anneli Andersson Anna Lundin 21-14,18-21,18-21,21-18
+4
Sara Persson Ulrika Björk Ulrika Björk 21-7,8-21,21-5,16-21 +11
Linda Jansson Anneli Andersson Linda Jansson 21-5,2-21,21-5,21-7
+27
Anna Lundin Ulrika Björk Ulrika Björk 4-21,21-16,21-5,18-19 +3
Veterans O45
The veterans class saw an interesting comeback. Peter Bittar,
who has been the Swedish Champion in the Elite class no less than
6 times, showed up to collect his first veteran title. Peter
looked as fit as ever and demolished his opponents. All his
matches were decided before tennis. In the final he faced Claes
Hellgren, the Swedish Handball Legend, who these days is a
frequent and enthusiastic competitor on the racketlon tour.
Quarter finals:
Peter Bittar Gunnar Ljung: 21-18,21-3,21-18 +24
Bengt Norstedt Robert Andersson: 21-9,21-15,21-14 +25
Claes Hellgren Lars Blomstergren: 24-22,21-16,11-21, 21-16
+2
Ronnie Aronsson Hubert Fromlet: 21-5,21-9,21-14,21-20 +36
Semi finals:
Peter Bittar Bengt Norstedt: 21-5,21-2,21-14 +28
Claes Hellgren Ronnie Aronsson: 15-21,21-18,21-4,8-4 +18
Final:
Peter Bittar Claes Hellgren: 21-5,21-4,14-21,21-15 +32
Third price match:
Bengt Norstedt Ronnie Aronsson: 21-14,6-21,21-4,21-12 +18
Juniors U 21
Alexander Ebata won the junior class in a convincing manner.
The closest margin was +16 points and thereby proving that the
win in Swedish Open was no coincidence. Alexander will defend the
Swedish flag in the World Championships.
Semifinals:
Alexander Ebata Marc Uddenfeldt: 21-14,21-13,21-10 +26
Jonas Persson Magnus Engervall: 21-11,17-21,17-21,21-2 +21
Final:
Alexander Ebata Magnus Engervall: 21-12,19-21,21-7,7-10
+21
Third price match:
Jonas Persson Marc Uddenfeldt: 21-7,21-7,21-10 +39
Men's Class B
In the mens Class B we saw many interesting matches. In one of
the quarterfinals we had big expectations on the clash between
the Poker Titans, Ola The Nuts Klevard and Fredrik
Big Slick Björk. Ola is participating in the Swedish
Poker Championships and Fredrik has qualified for the World Poker
Championships in Las Vegas! Unfortunately all bets were off in
this match when Fredrik had to fold..
Hans Mullamaa, the former Racketlon Federation president, fought
a close battle against Robert Kjellberg. Robert, who has been
absent from the game for a few years, used all his experience and
clinched the match by 1 point. In the final Örjan Lundberg
proved too strong. Örjan sailed through to win all his matches
with ease. Maybe a contender in the A-class in the future?
Semifinals:
Robert Kjellberg Hans Mullamaa: 14-21,16-21,21-15,21-15 +1
Örjan Lundberg Ola Klevard: 21-6,21-19,11-21,15-7 +15
Final:
Örjan Lundberg Robert Kjellberg: 21-10,21-12,13-21,10-8
+14
Third Price match:
Ola Klevard Hans Mullamaa: WO, winner Ola Klevard
Men's Class C
In the C we saw the largest number of entrants and after many
good matches the winner was Bobi Wallenberg, a tabletennis
specialist who has participated before and finally got a victory.
He beat Magnus Nilsson in the final by 1 point. This was closest
final this weekend and the 21-3 tabletennis win proved decisive
for the title.
Many thanks to Lennart Eklundh for organizing a great tournament.
Watch out Belgium! The Swedes have gathered their racketlon
soldiers..
See you soon!!
SA + MH
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