Monday, October 29, 2012 - 13:47
Ratzer and Kubanova stay unbeaten

Copenhagen Racoons win the 3rd FIR Champions League in at English Open in London (26-28.10). In the final the Danish team with Jesper Ratzer, Gus Hansen, Stefan Adamsson, Markus Zeoli, Steffen Peterskovsky, Inge van den Herrewegen and Nathalie Zeoli beat defending champions Union Racketlon Klosterneuburg from Austria. In the women elite draw Zuzana Kubanova stays unbeaten this year as did Jesper Ratzer, both took the English Open victories. All results are and end positions on www.resultreporter.com.

 

369 points, but only 3 decided

Just to indicate how close it was, in the FIR Champions League final it was three points that decided a match where a total of 369 points were played. Both teams made it easily to the final, where the defending champion Union Racketlon Klosterneuburg won no less than three matches, while the women singles ended in a draw. Joey Schubert even beat world number one Jesper Ratzer. Copenhagen Racoons only took victory in the second men singles, but there Stefan Adamsson won by a margin of 8 points over Kasper Jonsson, which was enough for the total victory. Subsequentlya a Dane on the Austrian team was responsible for the Danish victory of his friends. “I don’t think he was bought, but maybe his subconsciousness played him a fool”, joked Austrian manager Weigl. For the development of the sport it is important to have a new winning team though! Congratulations to Copenhagen.

 

Copenhagen Racoons (Den) – Union Racketlon Klosterneuburg 171:168

1.    Men Single: Jesper Ratzer – Joey Schubert

TT 5:11, BA 11:4, SQ 3:11, TE 11:5; 30:31 -1

Women single: Nathalie Zeoli – Zuzana Kubanova

TT 11:6, BA 11:9, SQ 2:11, TE 13:11; 37:37

Men Doubles: M. Zeoli/Gustav Hansen – Christian Austaller/Jermaine Manners

TT 12:10, BA 5:11, SQ 11:4, TE 6:11; 34:36 -2

2.    Men Single: Stefan Adamsson – Kasper Jonsson

TT 11:7, BA 2:11, SQ 11:2, TE 11:7; 35:27 +8

Mixed Doubles: Inge v.d. Herrewegen/S. Peterskovsky – Bettina Bugl/Calum Reid

TT 8:11, BA 11:6, SQ 9:11, TE 7:9; 35:37 -2

 

4 Danes in top 7

The Danes were also successful in the men elite. Jesper Ratzer stays unbeaten in singles 2012 and took his 7th victory of the year, winning all tournaments he played. On his way to the final the Danes victory over Stefan Adamsson (brone medal) in the semis was more than just impressing. On the other half his fellow Kasper Jonsson knocked out two-seeded Joey Schubert in the first round, but had to retire in the semis with Jermaine Manners. The English man was chanceless in the final with Ratzer though, where the match was over before Tennis. With Gus Hansen (6th) and Jack Broe Larsen (7th) and the victory of Jakob Arfelt in men advanced Danes prove they will be the team to watch in the near future. Wild card player Hirona Sudo had to pay with the 16th place, but promised to take Racketlon home to Japan.

 

5th victory for Kubanova

Reigning world champion Zuzana Kubanova took her 5th title of the year, winning all tournaments she played as did Ratzer. The final with Nathalie Zeoli was very close though this time, showing the German is constantly improving in Tabletennis and Squash. Third place went to local matador Isabelle Tyrrell, who thrashed Nicole Eisler, only losing Badminton. In mixed doubles Zeoli took revenge together with Jesper Ratzer taking the title over Bettina Bugl and Calum Reid, who beat no one less than Eisler/Adamsson. The world champion only played in the club team and mixed competition this time. Zeoli  family won another title, with Markus and Steffen Peterskovsy on the top of the men doubles podium for the first time in their careers. In women doubles reigning world champions Kubanova/Seitz took home a pretty close victory by three points only over Tyrrell/Eisler.

 

6 other titles stay at home

Leon Griffiths (u13), Josh Kashdan-Brown (u21), Barbara Capper (+45), Richard Whitehouse (+50), Alex Du Noyer (Men C) and Julian Kashdan-Brown (Men D) made sure that 6 of the other 8 titles stayed in England. One big surprise though occurred in Seniors (+45), where Oleg Okunov took the first title for Russia. The only other foreign title went to Orsolya Szegener in women amateur from Hungary.

 

Marcel Weigl

FIR-Executive President

 

Results and Endpositions www.resultreporter.com

 

3rd FIR Champions League

1.      Copenhagen Racoons, Denmark

2.      Union Racketlon Klosterneuburg, Austria

3. Racketlon Team Middlesex, England

4. Racketlon Team Surrey, England

5. St. Petersburg Racketlon Team, Russia

6. Racketlon Team Cardiff, Wales

 

PLANANCY English Open 2012

Men A – Elite

1.      Jesper Ratzer, Den

2.      Jermaine Manners, Eng

3.      Stefan Adamsson, Swe

 

Women A – Elite

1.      Zuzana Kubanova, Cze

2.      Nathalie Zeoli, Ger

3.      Isabelle Tyrrell, Eng

 

Men A – Elite Doubles

1.      Markus Zeoli/Steffen Peterskovsky, Ger

2.      Cedric Junillon/Jack Broe Larsen, Fra/Den

3.      Duncan Stahl/Jeremy Krzystyniak, Eng

 

Mixed Doubles

1.      Nathalie Zeoli/Jesper Ratzer, Ger/Den

2.      Bettina Bugl/Calum Reid, Aut/Sco

3.      Nicole Eisler/Stefan Adamsson, Sui/Swe

 

Women Doubles

1. Simone Seitz/Zuzana Kubanova, Aut/Cze

2. Isabelle Tyrrell/Nicole Eisler, Eng/Sui

3. Lucy Burks/Bettina Bugl, Eng/Aut

 

Juniors u13

1.      Leon Griffiths, Eng

2.      Dominic Spicer, Eng

3.      Elise Lazarus, Eng

 

Juniors u21

1.      Josh Kashdan-Brown, Eng

2.      Alexander Oliver, Eng

3.      Chris Batey, Eng

 

Seniors Women +45

1.      Barbara Capper, Eng

2.      Dianne Baker, Eng

3.      Dominique Ford, Eng

 

Seniors +45

1.      Oleg Okunev, Rus

2.      Richard Middleton, Eng

3.      Michael Appleton, Eng

 

Seniors +50

1.      Richard Whitehouse, Eng

2.      Michael Appleton, Eng

3.      Rakesh Gupta, Eng

 

Women B – Amateur

1.      Orsolya Szegner, Hun

2.      Lucy Burks, Eng

3.      Elise Lazarus, Eng

 

Men B – Advanced

1.      Jakob Arfelt, Den

2.      Steffen Peterskovsky, Ger

3.      Christian Austaller, Aut

 

Men C – Amateur

1.      Alex Du Noyer, Eng

2.      Robbie Wong, Eng

3.      Andrew Taylor, Eng

 

Men D – Beginner

1.      Julian Kashdan-Brown, Eng

2.      Horst Vehse, Ger

3.      Simon Bacha, Fra