Amke Fischer and Leon Griffiths both successfully defended their IWT London Open will superb displays in Redbridge.
Griffiths produced a phenomenal performance in the final to defeat Calum Reid, winning +17 (22-20, 21-5, 17-21, 8-5).
Fischer’s title defence was completed with a routine victory over Matilda Parslow, winning after needing just one point in tennis.
Griffiths Gives Reid No Chances in Impressive Final
At the start of Sunday, all eyes were on the mouthwatering semi-final contest between Calum Reid and Luke Griffiths. This was a huge marker for Griffiths to demonstrate how much he has developed and he certainly showed everyone that he’s taken a step forward.
In the end, though, Reid still had too much class and experience. A 21-6 table tennis set was a ruthless start and getting 16 points against Griffiths in the badminton was mightily impressive. While Griffiths was making Reid work hard in the squash, he only came away with four points.
Reid was not the only one to advance to the final before tennis. Leon Griffiths was clinical in his match against Matthew Davidson, winning +28 (21-13, 21-13, 21-9). A decent showing for Davidson though, especially across the table tennis and badminton as he continues to emerge as another young British star.
In the final, there was little to separate Leon Griffiths and Calum Reid throughout the table tennis. Griffiths’ offence and Reid’s defence created the perfect storm with the two neck-and-neck from start to finish. In the end, Griffiths snatched a 22-20 lead. He very quickly extended that with a ruthless 21-5 badminton victory to move 18 ahead.
Squash is Reid’s strongest sport but Griffiths has improved dramatically over the last few years. His movement gave Reid all sorts of problems and he battled hard to earn an incredible 17 points. That squash performance left Griffiths needing just eight on the tennis court, something he achieved with ease to seal the title.
That victory gained Griffiths his third Men’s A Singles title, and also saw him defend the IWT London Open trophy he won two years ago at Roehampton. This also had the feel of passing the torch for British racketlon, as Griffiths now firmly stands as the best from the nation.
Luke Griffiths took the bronze medal on the podium, after beating Davidson by +17 points.
Fischer Defends Title with Ease
Travels restrictions left the Women’s A with an odd mixture of players headlined by Amke Fischer. Women’s B regular Matilda Parslow, U16 Girls champion Alexandra Ogram and first-timer Irina Sanderson, joined the German star.
As predicted, both Fischer and Parslow made light work of Ogram and Sanderson to set up a showdown between the two. They had faced once before, at this very tournament two years ago. On that day, Fischer won 21-4, 21-5, 19-21 to triumph before tennis.
This time, Parslow improved a little bit in all three sports. Fischer won 21-6, 21-8, 14-21, but also needed to head to the tennis court to play one point. While it’s still a loss, it’s a big step forward for Parslow as she looks to transition from the Women’s B towards the Women’s A.
Ogram took the bronze medal in the Women’s A after winning a hard-fought victory Sanderson towards the end of Sunday. A big thanks and congratulations to both women for stepping up and competing in the Women’s A.
For Fischer, this takes her to 12 elite singles titles, drawing her level with recently-retired Isabelle Bramhall at No.5 on the all-time list.
You can rewatch highlights of the Men’s A final between Leon Griffiths and Calum Reid here, with table tennis and badminton, squash, and tennis.
The full report for all non-elite categories will be released on Tuesday, with coverage of every single category.
The report from the elite doubles tournaments is available here.
Interesting in playing racketlon yourself? Enter one of the six FIR World Tour tournaments that are currently live for players here.
Sam Barker / FIR Media Officer
