With 11 categories and five defending champions, the World Singles Championship is shaping up to have a lot of drama in the Seniors classes.
There are seven classes for men, ranging from +40 to +70, while there are four women’s classes from +40 to +55.
Esther Dübendorfer, Carola Von Heimburg, Peter Sákovics , Graham King and Steve Rayson are all back to defend the titles they won two years ago in Leipzig.
Let’s dive straight into the Seniors categories as we preview every singles one.
Men’s +40 Senior Singles – Return of Eliasson and Junillon Headlines Field
The +40 category is the highest-profile age range on the Seniors Circuit, so it seems only fitting that this year’s event should feature the return of a legend. Three-time World Champion Magnus Eliasson is competing for the first time, alongside his return to the Men’s A Singles. Also returning is Cédric Junillon, with the Frenchman playing singles on the FIR World Tour for the first time in three years.
Neither of these two is the top seed in the draw though. That honour belongs to Ray Jordan, who is competing on the Seniors Circuit for the first time. With 15 players in a 16 draw, Jordan received a bye through to the next round. He’ll face either Switzerland’s Nico Hobi or India’s Varinder Singh in a blistering first-round match. Two years ago, Hobi reached the final before falling to Elmar Schaub. The German is not returning to defend his title this year – could it be Hobi’s time?
Quarter two sees two matches between French and British players. Junillon’s comeback will begin with a huge test against Great Britain’s Jermaine Manners. Surprisingly, given their history on the circuit, the pair have not yet played. The second match sees French newcomer Laurent Cenne take on improving Brit Peter Barton.
Eliasson is in the bottom half of the draw but has a tough opener. The Hall of Famer is taking on No.2 Mohammed Tarik Koubaa. The Moroccan, like No.1 seed Jordan, is taking part in the Seniors at a World Championship for the first time. He’s looking to become the first person from the African continent to win a world title. Also in the bottom quarter is Jean-Robert Fiori, who takes on Torsten Kuntz. The latter won the +45 Singles at the IWT Rotterdam Open at the start of this month.
The third and final quarter is headlined by reigning Men’s B Singles champion Loïc Cencig. The Frenchman opens his campaign for a second world title against Sweden’s Niclas Lars Larsson. While this is Cencig’s first venture on the seniors circuit, Larsson is making his return after four years away from the sport. That match’s winner will play either Switzerland’s Julien Meister or Thomas Neupert, who have both already played on the FIR World Tour this season.
The full Men’s Senior +40 Singles draw is available here.
Women’s Seniors +40 Singles – World No.1 1 Kaptein Joined by Jacobsen and Flatman
While 15 players are tussling for trophies in the Men’s at this level, just three women take to the court in the women’s seniors competition. World No.1 Kirsten Kaptein is the top seed in the draw, as she chases her first World title. That will be no easy challenge though.
Joining Kaptein in the draw is Stine Jacobsen. While Kaptein is higher-ranked, the head-to-head and Jacobsen’s form suggests that she is the heavy favourite when these two do meet in the three-player box league. Joining these two well-known players is a complete newcomer. Alice Flatman has not played on the FIR World Tour before but is making her debut on the grandest of stages.
The Women’s Seniors +40 Singles draw is available here.
Men’s Seniors +45 Singles – Brits Stahl and Manners Lead the Seeds
Perhaps unsurprisingly, there is a lot of crossover in the +40 and +45 draws in the Men’s Seniors. Niclas Lars Larsson, Varinder Singh, Torsten Kuntz and Jermaine Manners are all involved in both draws. One player who has already won the +40 title and is concentrating all his efforts on the +45 is the top seed, Duncan Stahl.
In this 12-player draw, the four seeds all receive a bye through to the quarter-finals. That means that Stahl gets to scout out whether he will play Larsson or Germany’s badminton star Conrad Hueckstaedt.
Home favourite Raphael Paglia is the top seed in quarter two. He could find himself facing another Swiss player in his opening match. The first round in this quarter sees Andrea Bandi take on Indian talent Varinder Singh. Singh currently has an 0-1 record against Swiss players after losing to Magnus Ekstrand two years ago. If he wants to reach the semi-finals then he’ll need to change that to a 2-1 winning record.
Speaking of Ekstrand, he lands in quarter three. Despite his experience, he just misses out on seeding and so will face Sweden’s Stefan Nilsson in the first round. The two are meeting on the FIR World Tour for the first time, with a quarter-final clash against Torsten Kuntz the prize for the victor.
Propping up the draw at the bottom of the bracket is No.2 seed, Jermaine Manners. Manner has already faced top seed Duncan Stahl once on the circuit this season, winning a narrow +3 victory in London. Could we see another epic final between the top two seeds in this draw? If Manners is to get to the final, he’ll first have to beat the winner of Christian Ried against Magnus Åberg.
The full Men’s Seniors +45 Singles draw is available here.
Women’s Seniors +45 Singles – Dübendorfer Back to Defend Title
Only six players are this year’s World Singles Championship is returning to defend titles. Esther Dübendorfer is one of them. The Swiss superstar won this category in both 2018 and 2019 and now needs just one more title to match Barbara Capper’s three world titles at this age group.
Standing in Dübendorfer’s way is Nicole Kamphues and Susan Rutschmann. History is firmly on Dübendorfer’s side though. The Swiss players boast a dominant 2-0 winning record over Kramphues, with the pair having met in this category at both of the last two World Championships.
Dübendorfer’s record against Rutschmann is even more impressive. Dübendorfer leads the head-to-head 8-0, including two comfortable victories in Switzerland at this year’s IWT Swiss Open. Can anyone stop Dübendorfer from winning her third title? History wouldn’t suggest so but this is racketlon. Strang things happen.
The full Women’s Seniors +45 Singles draw is available here.
Men’s Seniors +50 Singles – Hobzik Headlines Open Draw
With Jack Broe Larsen not returning to try and retain his title, this 18-player draw is a who’s who of well-known racketlon faces. Spare a thought for Thomas Inauen, Daniel Lipowski, Gregor Meyer and Rakesh Gupta. These four are not just the only players who have to play a first-round match but also get to play the No.1 or No.2 seed if they win.
Speaking of the seeds, current +55 World Champion Richard Hobzik is the top seed in the draw. He’ll begin his quest for the title against either Inauen or Lipowski. Dariusz Adam Walczak is the other seed in this quarter. The Pole opens things up against Eric Durand. While Walczak is making his 2021 debut, Durand has been extremely active, competing in both Rotterdam and Bucharest.
Quarter two sees a pair of Germans collide in Kai Zeuner and No.4 seed Frank Böhm. While they have not met on the tour before, Böhm is a name to watch after beating
Volker Sach lurks in quarter three as the No.3 seed. His tournament begins against Poland’s Piotr Ostaszyk, who is playing in his first tournament since the last world championships. Hungary’s György Janzer is the remaining seed in quarter three. Dating back to the last world championships, Janzer is riding a six-match unbeaten streak and will certainly be one of the favourites for the title. Looking to stop him in the opening match in Great Britain’s Simon Lau.
As mentioned earlier, Gupta and Meyer have to face each other in the first round in quarter four. Awaiting them in the second round in Germany’s Manfred Grab. The other match in this section sees the final seed, Jacob Steinmetz, take on Dominique Abrami, who had some recent success on the French Tour.
The full Men’s Seniors +50 Singles draw is available here.
Women’s Seniors +50 Singles – Six players from Five Nations
Esther Dübendorfer is back headlining another Women’s Seniors draw as she lands in Group A. Joining the Swiss star in this group is the returning Khasanova Oigul and debutant Anna Lindeberg. Dübendorfer’s experience and ranking see her as the pre-tournament favourite to progress from this group and reach the final.
Who will the Group A winner face in the final? Either Zuzana Vancuríková, Heike Voigt or Isabella Humbel. These three women make up Group B, with Switzerland’s Humbel making her international racketlon debut. While Humbel remains a mystery, the match between Vancuríková and Voigt could be a real thriller. The two have met three times, all in the World Team Championship, with Voigt winning in 2017 and 2017, while the Czech star won most recently in 2019. One of these three women is guaranteed to reach a World Singles Championship final.
The full Women’s Seniors +50 Singles draw is available here.
Men’s Seniors +55 Singles – Three North Americans in Biggest Seniors Draw
It’s quite rare to see three North Americans in a Racketlon draw with only 21 players. It’s even rarer when those players are from three different countries. Canada’s Dany Lessard and Cuba’s Eric De La Torre are set to meet in the opening round, while in the second quarter of the draw, American debutant Paul Marks takes on Belgium’s Guillaume Lahourcade.
The winner of Lessard against De La Torre will take on top seed Christian Börner. The first quarter isn’t done there though. Big names Avi Shemri and Thomas Ostenfeld Larsen have been drawn to face each other. Remarkably, the two have never met, despite their regularity on the tour.
Former +55 World Champion Martyn Langston lurks in quarter two, looking to win back the trophy he last won in 2018. Langston’s campaign will begin against either fellow Brit Alan Plater or Finland’s Ahti Antikainen. The other seed in the section is Beat Ladner. The home favourite will take on the winner of Marks against Lahourcade.
Rakesh Gupta has had no luck with draws at this tournament. Once again, he has to play one round more than most players, facing Jacek Ladny in the opening round. A victory for either player will set up a second-round match against No.4 seed Volker Sach. No.7 seed Niklas Hägerbrand is the second seed in this section. After a bye through the first round, he takes on Switzerland’s Marc-André Rauber.
Both seeds in the fourth and final quarter are from Germany. Frank Kleiber is the highest of the two ranked players, with Thomas Knaack the other seed. Knaack already knows that he’ll be facing Peter Bruhn Christensen, while Kleiber will have to wait to find out. Kleiber does know that he’ll take on either Sweden’s Jörgen Ström or Switzerland’s Giovanni Gentile.
Richard Hobzik won this title two years ago. A year before that it was Martyn Langston. Who will it be in 2021?
The full Men’s Seniors +55 Singles draw is available here.
Women’s Seniors +55 Singles – Defending Champion Von Heimburg back to defend Crown
The second of our players back trying to defend their world title is Carola Von Heimburg. Two years ago, the German had to defeat Zuzana Vancuríková to win the title. If she wants to retain it, she’ll have to beat the Czech player again.
It isn’t just Von Heimburg and Vancuríková battling for the title. Susan Rutschmann and Nicole Kamphues are the other two players in contention for the title, as they complete the four-player box league. Von Heimburg leads the head-to-head against Vancuríková 7-0, but the pair have had several close games over the years.
Vancuríková has also lost to Kamphues before, although that was back in 2015. Since then, she’s beaten her four-time and all three players also have unbeaten records against Rutschmann.
The full Women’s Seniors +55 Singles draw is available here.
Men’s Seniors +60 Singles – Four Brits Hunt Down Defending Champion Sákovics
Peter Sákovics is not only the greatest senior player of all time but also the defending +60 champion. Seven players are looking to take his title away from him, including four from Great Britain.
One of those Brits, Bruce Shepherd is facing Sákovics in the opening round. History is in Sákovics’ corner. The Hungarian boats a 4-0 head-to-head winning record over Shepherd, although they have only met once in the last five years. The winner of that match will take on either Duncan Marlow or Israel’s Iftach Gesser. The Israeli leads the head-to-head 1-0 over Marlow, beating him by just two points back at the European Championship in 2015.
Alan Plater and Martyn Langston are the two Brits in the bottom half of the draw. Langston is the No.2 seed and competing in this category for the first time. Dany Lessard is his opening opponent, while Plater is facing Peter Bruhn Christensen.
The full Men’s Senior +60 Singles draw is available here.
Men’s Senior +65 Singles – King Chasing Glory on Home Turf
Two years ago Graham King was crowned world champion for the first time in his racketlon career. Now he intends to keep hold of his title and win once again on home soil. With a bye through the opening round, King’s campaign will begin against either Steen Hesselbjerg or Marc Veldkamp. Hesselbjerg was actually the champion in this age class back in 2018, so could set up a mouthwatering clash with King if he comes through his opener. Also in the top half of the draw, No.3 seed Graham Cain takes on Great Britain’s Julian Clapp. Cain has been runner-up in this category in each of the last two world championships. Could 2021 be his year?
Defending +70 World Champion Steve Rayson has also entered the +65 category. He begins against Sweden’s Stefan Blomgren. Meanwhile, the other first-round match in the draw sees an all-Scandinavian affair as Finland’s Timo Räisänen meets Jean-Robert Fiori. Markku Merta awaits the winner of that contest, with the Finn competing for the first time since the 2019 IWT Swedish Open.
The full Men’s Seniors +60 Singles draw is available here.
Men’s Seniors +70 Singles – Repeat of the 2019 Final
In 2019, it was Steve Rayson who narrowly defeated Geoff Jordan to be crowned the +70 Singles world champion. They are guaranteed to meet once again, with both players competing in a five-player box league. Joining Rayson and Jordan is Timo Räisänen, Peter Arbuthnot and Jan Stålberg. While the two previous finalists have experience in this category, the other three are all making their debuts.
Will it be Rayson and Jordan battling for the title again or could one of the new players grab themselves a world title?
The full Men’s Seniors +70 Singles draw is available here.
The Amateurs preview is available here while the Juniors report is available here. The elite singles draw preview will be published soon.
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Sam Barker / FIR Media Officer
Image Credit / Alex Rieck
