Swedish Racketlon Federation Founded
2006-05-26
_________________
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
_________________________________