The First National Racketlon Championship in India was conducted on 27th & 28th Feb. Players from 12 different states of India participated. There was a huge gathering at the venue. Most of them were eager to know how Racketlon game is played. Funny thing is most of them know that individual can play in any one event, means their idea was participants can take part any one of the four sports. Anyway, it is just a beginning. Read this report by the General Secretary of Racketlon Federation India, Manoranjan Mishra.

The first ever combined FIR Seniors World Rankings have now been published in March, with Peter Sakovics taking the lead. No changes in Men and Women Singles where Christoph Krenn and Martina Kakosova hold their top positions. In the World Tour Race though its the Swedish Open winners in the lead: Swedishman Stefan Adamsson and Kerstin Peckl from Austria. Check out your own world ranking on www.resultreporter.com and if you want to know where your points came from click on the Full World Ranking Lists below.

Important News before the 6th Czech Open from 26. – 28. 3. in Prague: The tournament will not start until Friday 26th of March, rather than originally planned on Thursday. “We hope to thus attract a number of players more”, says Tournament Director Svatopluk Reijthar. The slogan “Racketlon under one roof” counts for the Hotel and Sportscomplex STEP where players live directly on site. “Its the most comfortable tournament on the World Tour, don’t miss it”, says FIR-President Marcel Weigl. Entry Deadline is Friday the 12th March on www.resultreporter.com

Stefan Adamsson is the winner of Comparative Swedish Open 2010 after beating Christoph Krenn in the final. With Christian Wall taking bronze Sweden takes revenge for the big defeat at the World Champs. Kerstin Peckl (credit: RFA) saves Austrias honour though and takes her first title on the FIR World Tour. Men Doubles went to the surprise newcomers from Germany: Othmar Neidhart and Thorsten Deck. In Mixed Doubles new pair Anneli Andersson and Alexander Köpf took gold and in Seniors +45 it was Peter Sakovics on top of the podium once again. 420 matches with over 200 players from 20 countries. All results are now online on www.resultreporter.com

From 23rd to 25th April the first international Racketlon tournament ever will be held in Italy. And what a start it is indeed, the Italian Open Challenger in Milano (Basiglio), offers 3200€ prize money + 800, which is the highest amount ever offered at an international Racketlon tournament. "We will try to organise our first tournament like a Super World Tour Event and hope to be upgraded by FIR in 2011”, says Gianpaolo Martire, Marketing Manager of FIRA – Federazione Italia Racketlon.

Nearly 100 entries in singles and 16 double pairs at the English Championships last weekend. Favourite Jermaine Manners took the Mens title, while newcomer Sarah Lochrie is the new Womens Champion. Best Senior (+45) was former nationalteam player David Lazarus.

FIR has taken another important step into the future, all players can now pay the annual players license for 2010 via paypal on www.resultreporter.com. “A great innovation which takes only 2 minutes”, says FIR-President Marcel Weigl very pleased. At the same time the monthly FIR World Rankings (1. Feb) are now published with one big major change: With the introduction of the new Seniors classes +50 and +60, from now on only one single Seniors ranking for all age classes will be used by FIR. Thus it is very important for all Seniors to check and enter their correct birthdate on www.resultreporter.com

Staff and teachers working at educational organisations in Hong Kong were eligible to take part in the last Championships of the old year 2009. of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, where Hong Kong Racketlon president CM Chan is physical education teacher. The victory in the men elite class went to Wai-Kit Cheng, who already had international Racketlon experience.

While the FIR World Tour is still waiting for its first tournament of the year the Belgian Racketlon circuit 2010 with no less than 12 tournaments over the whole country has started in Waregem. In the final english guest Jermaine Manners beat Peter Duyck by a margin of only 2 points after sensationally taking 15 points in tennis. Find all other tournaments on www.racketlon.be

Finally another Racketlon year has passed and in the name of FIR we wish all the Racketlon community worldwide a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year 2010 regardless which religion we all follow. As a small Christmas present for you all FIR for the very first time publishes on www.racketlon.net the statistics of all time World Tour winners. What a surprise the Swedish retired Swedish topstars Magnus Eliasson and Lilian Druve are still in the lead. Furthermore all Statistics subpages have been updated, but check for yourself!

FIR held its Annual General Meeting - AGM 2009 and the last Council Meeting of the year during the World Champs in Löhne/Germany this year. Please find attached the most important decisions such as the Minutes of both meetings. Two weeks earlier in the first ever Non-European Racketlon summit General Secretary of Indian Racketlon Mishra Manoranjan and Patric Kalous from South Africa met with Hong Kong President CM Chan in Hong Kong to discuss Racketlon development outside Europe.

In the Austrian Bundesliga last weekend (5./6.12) Racketpoint Vienna with World Champion Christoph Krenn beat the first Racketlonclub worldwide Union Racketlon Klosterneuburg in the final. Although Calum Reid, the top player of Klosterneuburgs team around Marcel Weigl, gave Krenn a beating his team mates Michael Dickert, Kerstin Peckl, Peter Hatina and Mario Gruber saved a total of five points after four matches (2 men singles, 1 men double, 1 woman single) played to 11. It was the 5th victory for Racketpoint Vienna and both teams qualified for the first FIR Champions League held in Vienna in May 2010 together with a World Tour event.

With the beginning of December the 2009 end of the year rankings have now been published by FIR as well as the official results of the World Tour Race. World number one and World Champion Christoph Krenn also won the World Tour Race. On the Women side it was a success for Germany at last, with Silke Altmann at the top of the podium. Volker Sach (+45) and Sten Lindström (+55) win Seniors Classes.

At the World Champs in Löhne the Italian national team booked a hotel one hour away by mistake in Lohne because they did not know an ö. The national team was therefore late for there first match. Concerning Racketlon for Kids they are early and a step a head of other nations by organising the Italian Circuit “Racketlon Kids” the second year. At the same time the “Racketlon Kids Challenge” at primary schools in Austria will after four years stage the final next Friday 4th December.

Christoph Krenn (Aut) and Michaela Björnström (Fin) are the new World Champions. In a thrilling final the number one took down top favourite Mikko Kärkkainen in the final. Peter Bittar from Sweden (Seniors +45) defend their World Championship titles and Poland surprises to win the nationalteam competition at the World Champs in Löhne (19.-21.11). Richard Whitehouse (Eng) is the new Seniors +55 World Champion and brothers Ken-Kristian and Andre-Kristopher Toomjoe from Estonia take Juniors u21 and u16 titles. U21 Girls went to Marta Jez from Poland. Full results on www.resultreporter.com

After five years at the top of the FIR World Rankings with 36 World Tour titles the probably best Racketlon player ever, Magnus Eliasson officially retires from Racketlon. The 40-year-old will not compete in the upcoming World Champs in Löhne/Hannover from 19. – 21. November. Before Finnish Open FIR-President Marcel Weigl met the 3-time World Champion in Singles and 7-time with the Swedish national team in Stockholm for his last interview.

15 National Teams have signed in for the World Champs, with Canada giving its premier. Seeded teams are Austria (1), Sweden (2), England (3) and Germany (4). What counts are the FIR World Ranking positions of the best three men and the best woman on the seven team squad. The fifth top team battling for the three medals is Finland the current vice-world champion of 2008, who is unseeded this year. It might be the most interesting and closest national team competition ever. Sweden has never lost a national team match before, but this time Magnus Eliasson has retired and as it looks like injured Linda Jansson will not be fit in time.

Entry Deadline has passed and the FIR Racketlon World Championships in Singles and for Nationalteams from 19. – 22. November in Löhne near Hannover have broken some records. Over 360 players have signed in with a total of over 420 entries and record draws especially in the Senior Classes where a 48-draw will be played for +45 and a 32-draw in the +55. The Elite draws have already been sorted with a cut-off at WR 50 for the Men A Elite 48-player draw and a cut-off at WR 26 for the Women A – Elite 24-player draw. Racketlon expert John O`Donnell has analysed the hottest candidates for the medals for www.racketlon.net

Last weekend (30.10 – 1.11.) the second edition of the WILSON Racketlon Challenger took place in Dronten/Netherlands. and ended with a surprise. Alwin Krist upsets number one seed and top favorite Bart Beks by beating him before tennis. The Women Elite was won as expected by Karin Geertsma with her win over Joyce Crouse in the final.

What a perfect timing! Beginning of November from 6. – 8. we will have the final round of our first German Bundesliga year finally finding the first german team champion which will be sent to Austria next year representing Germany within the Champions League as well as the teams for a potential relegation as we are still confident opening the second league already next year. On the same weekend the first ever German Champion in Singles shall be determined.

The 2nd WILSON International Racketlon Challenger from 30 October to 1 November will be the last tournament before the final World Tour event 2009: the World Champs.
In the Elite Men and Woman there is a total amount of 500 Euro prize money. For the other categories there are WILSON Cheques to be spend in the WILSON shop in the venue. Numbers 1,2 and three get a cheque of 75, 50 and 25 Euro. Doubles will be mainly played on Friday October. Recreative players (Men D and Women B) only play on Sunday November 1st, all players have three matches guaranteed. The Entry Deadline has now been moved to 26th of November, except for Men Elite where entries close on 19th October. Entries must be made via Resultreporter.

On October 2-4, the city of Victoria in beautiful British Columbia was hosting the forth Pacific Rim Open international Racketlon Challenger tournament. Over 80 participants competed in singles and doubles. Victoria is home to a very strong tennis community and many participants were among the best players on the Vancouver Island. Danny Shannon beat ATP-Tennisplayer in the final. All draws can be found on the tournament website.

The 8th Finnish Open (9.-11.10) ended with a series of home victories. Above all Mikko Kärkkäinen won the Men Elite as well as the Men Doubles together with Ismo Rönkkö, who also took Bronze in the singles. Runnerup was Austrian Johannes Schubert. Men B - Advanced went to Olli Marjamäki, who beat Michaela Björnström in the final. In Seniors (55+) Sten Lindström was successful. Only the Seniors (45+) left the country, with Christian Alte not to beat. All results can be found on www.resultreporter.com or the tournament website.All pictures are now online on the FIR Picasa Webalbum

Calum Reid has finally comeback in singles too. The top Scot wins Scottish Open in Edinburgh (25-27.9) with two glorious victories over topseeded players from Austria Michael Dickert in the semi and Christoph Krenn in the final. English victory on the Womens side, with Natalie Lawrence outcasting tournament director Katy Buchanan in the final. Elite results can be found on www.resultreporter.com All other results on the tournament website Pictures can now be found on FIR Webalbum and a Video on Youtube

As early as never before FIR announces the official World Tour 2010 with 12 tournaments in 11 countries. Two tournaments are new on the Tour, with a Super World Tour Event in Granby/Canada replacing Canadian Open in Toronto und Rhein-Neckar Racketlon in Germany. For the first time all World Champs are separated with Singles in the Netherlands, Doubles in Zürich and Nationalteams in Austria.

Tournament Director and World number one Christoph Krenn wins his own tournament and takes the first home victory at NOVOMATIC AUSTRIAN OPEN by beating Stefan Adamsson in the final. In Women Elite Marielle van der Woerdt wins her second World Tour title in a row by outcasting Susanna Lautala-Näykki in the final. Men Doubles went to Comback pair Reid/Weigl (Sco/Aut), Mixed to Vesely/Sodomkova (Cze) and Women Doubles to Seitz/Hrabina (Aut/Hun). All results are live online http://www.resultreporter.com/node/2409/draws/admin/list A video of the tournament is already online on www.racketlon.at

Home victory for Natalie Lawrence at the 8th English Open in London (22.-23.8.) and first World Tour title for Austrian Michael Dickert. The Austrian also took the Mens Doubles title with fellow countryman Johannes Schubert, while Lawrence won the Mixed Doubles with John Foulds. Find the summarized results on the English Open Website. A report and the full results will be online shortly according to Tournament Director Keith Lesser, who spoke of a successfull tournament.

Newcomer Alex Hartley and nationalteam player Natalie Lawrence win the first ever Welsh Open in Racketlon in Cardiff (1.-2. August). Lawrence also wins the Mixed Doubles of the Challenger event together with Jon Foulds, while Daniel Gillet and Tournament Director Gary Tovey can celebrate a victory in Mens Doubles. All results and some pictures are already online on the Tournament Website.

Lars Bosselmann surprised himself with a double victory in the first time ever played “German Cabrio Open Challenger” in Hamburg, Germany. Bosselmann, taking advantage of playing nearly at home won the Men Singles title as well as the Doubles with Christian Wiesner (see pic).

27 Racketlon players - of which nearly half tried Racketlon for the very first time – took part in the 3rd Cape Open at the University of Cape Town on Sunday 26th July in South Africa. Even though seeded players fell like rain drops from last week’s storm in Cape Town tournament director and winner of the tournament Patric Kalous (see pic right side) reports below. “We encourage the development in Africa and hope for the first official federation and FIR Challenger tournament on the continent soon”, says a happy FIR-President Marcel Weigl. Pictures, rankings and all results are online on the South African webpage www.racketlon.co.za

Marielle van der Woerdt took her second title on the FIR World Tour to win her home tournament Dutch Open (24.-26.7) in Eindhoven. Together with Onno Quik they also won the Mixed Doubles. In Men Elite Alexander Köpf did it at last! His final victory over Jermaine Manners was the Germans first Singles title at an international Racketlon event. The Englishman took revenge in Mens Doubles, where Manners/Twisterling beat Köpf/Kudicke with a margin of two points. Seniors 45+ went to Volker Sach. All Results are now online on the Tournament Website

Last week the German Racketlon Federation (DRaV) contacted FIR with the news that the World Champs Teams and Singles 2009 from 19.-22. November cannot be held in Fürth as scheduled. FIR apologizes to all player and has tried to find the best solution for everyone and accepted the movement of the World Champs to Löhne near Hannover in Germany at the same date. “The tournament website http://wm2009.4rackets.de/ with all information will be online this week such as the registration on www.resultreporter.net open”, promises Tournament Director Stephan Frenkel. For all players who have already booked flight tickets to Fürth please refer to the letter (English and German) by German President Gunnar Biermanns below.

As expected moving forward the deadline for World Tour 2010 applications by three months to end of June, has made the application process slow. “Nevertheless more or less all expected applications have reached FIR”, says Executive President Marcel Weigl although some application sheets and confirmations by national presidents are still missing. “A matter of greater concern is, that we have no candidate for the Single World Champs yet.” Therefore the final application deadline is extended for over a week until Sunday 12th July midnight.

In the Men Elite final of Swiss Open (26.-28.6) in Zürich Stefan Jezler proved his good form and took his second title after Hungarian Open this year. The Swiss beat number one seed Alexander Köpf in an exciting match up. Surprise third place went to German Lars Bosselmann, who played in the Elite class the first time. Another German Silke Altmann won the Women A tournament, second place went to Czech girl Katerina Sodomkova and Irene Seifert ending up third. The Mens Doubles title went to Alexander Köpf/Oliver Kudicke. All Results on www.racketlonswissopen.ch In addition live Men A - Elite and Women A - Elite will be on Resultreporter under past events.

Preparations have taken their time, but finally Resultreporter NEW is ready and will go online on Wednesday 24th of June at 12:00 Noon (CET) if everything goes according to plan. For the period of transfer www.resultreporter.net will be down from Monday 22nd June 8:00 a.m. (CET) until the NEW version goes online on Wednesday. NOVOMATIC Austrian Open will be the first FIR tournament to use the full new version of www.resultreporter.net including live scores. Before that David Lloyd Dutch Open and English Open are coming up.