Morten Jaksland and Christine Seehofer both produced flawless weekend’s at the IWT Malta Open, winning three gold medals each.
The duo paired up to win the Mixed Doubles before Jaksland won the Men’s Singles and Doubles and Seehofer won the Women’s Singles and Doubles.
The win in Malta also secured the Victor Racketlon Series Men’s crown for Jaksland after he won two out of the three events.
Men’s A Singles: Jaksland Beats Hougaard to Win Title
Both Jaksland and Seehofer had set themselves up perfectly on Sunday morning. The duo had both won their opening two matches on Saturday to ensure they needed just the one win on Sunday for the title.
For the World No.1, it would be a familiar foe as he took on the World No. 2 Kresten Hougaard on Sunday. Remarkably, this was just their second meeting of the year, after also facing in the final of the IWT Club La Santa Open.
The match was neck-and-neck early doors. Jaksland edged out a tight table tennis 21-18 to carry a slender lead into the badminton. Hougaard fought back, sneaking the badminton 22-20 to reduce Jaksland’s lead to a single point.
The squash proved to be decisive in the end. Jaksland got off to a fast start and Hougaard simply couldn’t battle back. The World No.1 produced a masterclass to beat Hougaard and, given his strength of tennis, end this match.
The win makes it six singles title in 2019 for the World No.1 who will be delighted with this form with the World Singles Championships approaching.
He also secures the Victor Racketlon Series Men’s crown. His results in the three events were, fourth at the IWT Berlin Open, champions at the IWT Latvian Open and champion here in Malta.
After beating Ray Jordan on Sunday, Duncan Stahl eventually finished second in the Men’s A singles.
Women’s A Singles: Seehofer’s Perfect Weekend
If Christine Seehofer enters a tournament she is the automatic favourite. The IWT Malta Open did nothing to end that trend.
The Austrian World No.1 was hugely impressive in Malta, beating both Izzy Bramhall and Amke Fischer on Saturday. On Sunday, she would only need to defeat Nicole Eisler and the title would be hers.
Seehofer was in her usual, ruthless self on the court. The table tennis went by in the blink-of-an-eye, with Seehofer beating Eisler 21-7. The badminton was even more ruthless, with Eisler managing just four points. Eisler was able to win the squash 22-20 but by that point, the match was already over.
Seehofer won the tournament, beating three of racketlon’s most experienced athletes in the process. The Austrian will be feeling extremely confident with the World Championships now less than two months away.
With Amke Fischer forced to retire on Sunday, Izzy Bramhall came second in the Women’s A Singles.
The tournament report for the other open categories, Juniors, Seniors and remaining doubles categories will be coming soon.
The Victor Racketlon Series report will also be coming soon.
Catch up on all the action from Malta with the day one and day two tournament reports.
The full IWT Malta Open results are available here.
Sam Barker / FIR Media Officer
Image Credit / Duncan Stahl
