Swedish Racketlon Federation Founded
2006-05-26
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At a meeting held during the Swedish Racketlon Championships in Stockholm last weekend a Swedish Racketlon Federation was founded. The founding members of the federation were the Racketlon clubs in Stockholm, Gothenburg and Karlstad. The vintage Karlskrona Racketlon Club is expected to join within the near future.

The driving force behind the foundation is, as would be expected, Lennart Eklundh, the most experienced Racketlon tournament organiser in the world with experience from the organisation of Swedish Racketlon Championships every year for almost two decades(!) Lennart is also the Swedish representative in the International Racketlon Federation and a factor that, in turn, drove Lennart to found a Swedish federation at this moment is a paragraph in the statutes of the IRF saying that a country will lose their voting power at General Meetings if they do not have a legally recognised national federation.

Lennart was elected President at the meeting that also appointed another 6 board members, making the complete board look as follows:

Lennart Eklundh (President and Treasurer)
Mika Hasmats (Secretary)
Pär Carleke
Linda Jansson
Peter Landberg
Hans Mullamaa
Joachim Nilsson
Christian Wall

Mika Hasmats, Stockholm, is one of Sweden's most experienced racketlon players (currently ranked 18 in the World) with valuable experience from sports administration within table tennis.

Pär Carleke, Karlskrona, is a former Swedish Racketlon Champion (1998) and became the Veterans World Champion 2003 and 2004. Easily - He has, in fact, never been close of losing to another racketlon veteran. He is also the organiser of the yearly Racketlon Virtuoso tournament held in his hometown Karlskrona on the Swedish east coast since 1991, thereby building one of Sweden's biggest, most vital racketlon communities.

Linda Jansson, Stockholm, is this year's Swedish Racketlon champion and a serious contender for the World Championship title next week, given her recent victory over World No.1 Liliand Druve in the final of the Czech Open. She is also an experienced sports administrator within Swedish Tennis. And a former Federation Cup player for Finland.

Peter Landberg is the inventor of the name "Racketlon" and the driving force behind the emergence of Swedish Racketlon Championships almost 20 years ago. Together with Lennart he has been behind most major Racketlon tournaments ever played in Stockholm.

Hans Mullamaa, Gothenburg, is the marketing director of the first three Racketlon World Championships in Gothenburg 2001-2003 and the founder of the International Racketlon Federation (2002). He is also the head of Racketlon.com, as well as the co-ordinator of the 4 first IRF Racketlon World Tours 2003-2006.

Joachim Nilsson, Karlstad, is one of the fastest improving elite racketlon players in the world today. Judging from his performance against Stefan Adamsson in the quarter finals of the Swedish Championships, where he played a perfectly even game in all sports except squash (Stefan Adamsson-Joachim Nilsson: 18-21, 21-18, 21-9, 10-10 +12) he is a becoming international star.

Christian Wall, Västerås, is also (like Nilsson) a representative of the next generation Swedish racketlon players improving at a fast rate. He was the organiser of the first Västerås Open in 2005 in a sport centre that is considered as a host of a future World Championship. He has also recently taken over the administration of the Swedish Racketlon Ranking and is a hot candidate for taking charge of the Swedish Racketlon Tour. In addition he is a former professional tennis player.

All in all a pretty experienced bunch of Racketlon enthusiasts...

/H

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