What Happened on Day Four? | Racketlon World Championships

The Racketlon World Championships Juniors & Seniors came to a close on a hectic day of doubles inside Racketworld in Vienna.

It was a superb day for Ashutosh Avinash Pednekar, Soeren Smit, Cherisse Lau and Luke Griffiths, who all won multiple doubles titles.

Lau and Griffiths both leave Vienna as four-time World Champions, having each won the Juniors U21 Teams, Singles, Doubles and Mixed Doubles.

There was also a historic moment in the Seniors +40 Doubles where Mohammed Tarik Koubaa and Eric Durand’s run to the title secured a first-ever World Championships gold medal for both Morocco and Australia.

Here’s your full roundup of every single category.

Seniors +40 Doubles

History. That is the one-word description of the Seniors +40 Singles tournament won by Mohammed Tarik Koubaa and Eric Durand. Koubaa’s victory makes him the first Moroccan, African and Arabic player to win a Racketlon World Championship gold medal. For Durand, he becomes the first-ever Australian player and just the second Oceanic player.

In the final, they took on surprise Austrian finalists Werner Schindling and Horst Schwarzenberger. The unranked Austrians had taken out No.1 seeds Ray Jordan and Keith Lesser, as well as No.4 seeds Andreas Escher and Werner Seel, with the latter coming via a gummiarm.

In the final, Durand and Koubaa dominated the middle two sports to seal the title. That’s now a full set of medals for Koubaa and Durand, with both having previously picked up silver and bronze medals across this year and last year.

The full Seniors +40 Doubles results are available here.

Women’s +40 Doubles

The Women’s +40 Doubles title was settled by a one-match shoot-out as Kirsten Kaptein and Carola Von Heimburg took on Alice Flatman and Jane Galsworthy.

Kaptein and Von Heimburg already have Seniors Mixed Doubles titles at World Championships level but have never won a Women’s Doubles crown. That changed in Vienna as the top seeds won all three sports to claim victory before tennis.

The full Women’s +40 Doubles results are available here.

Mixed +40 Doubles

Having already won the Seniors +40 Teams and Senior +45 Doubles titles, Soeren Smit was going for a perfect hat-trick at the Juniors and Seniors portion of the World Championships. Handily, his partner was none other than the current World No.1 Stine Jacobsen.

In the final, Jacobsen and Smit would face Alice Flatman and Ray Jordan. The British duo had masterfully come through two tough group stage matches to reach a first World Championships final but found the going tough against the Danish opposition. In the end, it’s a perfect weekend for both Jacobsen and Smit, who go unbeaten ahead of a return to action in Graz.

The full Seniors +40 Doubles results are available here.

Juniors U21 Doubles

It was always going to be a tough ask for anyone to beat top seeds Matthew Davidson and Luke Griffiths. The two, alongside Florian Harca, are the brightest talents in racketlon. And with no Harca in the draw, they were heavy favourites.

So there were no shocks as the Brits rolled to the final. Joining them were Anant Gupta and Ross Wilson. It was a controlled performance in the final from Davidson and Griffiths, winning all three sports to just sneak a victory in before tennis. The victory for Griffiths was one of his four World titles this weekend, an incredible feat, but one that he was not alone in achieving.

The full Juniors U21 Doubles results are available here.

Girls U21 Doubles

While we’re used to seeing Luke Griffiths, Cherisse Lau does not have the same historical pedigree. However, the talented young Brit had an enormous breakthrough tournament, winning four World Championships titles and enjoying a perfect weekend.

One of those titles came alongside current Girls Singles No.1 Alexandra Ogram in the Girls U21 Doubles. Their final was a showdown between Clarissa Stiner and Paulina Steiner. After losing the table tennis, the Brits came alive in the middle two sports. Needing just 10 in the tennis, they won with 16 points to spare to win the Girls U21 Doubles title. A moment of history too for Ivanna Protsyk and Olena Protsyk, who collected a bronze medal for Ukraine.

The full Girls U21 Doubles results are available here.

Mixed U21 Doubles

After their triumphs in the three previous categories, Luke Griffiths and Cherisse Lau teamed up looking for one final trophy. However, the final against Alexandra Ogram and Ross Wilson ended up being one of the toughest matches of the tournament. Ogram and Wilson won the squash and kept the table tennis tight. However, a heavy win for Griffiths and Lau in the badminton was the clincher. In the end, they won by 11 points to complete a perfect, historic weekend for both. Olena Protsyk and Philipp Stocker finished with the bronze medal.

The full Mixed U21 Doubles results are available here.

Seniors +45 Doubles

Last year in Prague, Soeren Smit and Anders Fyrst burst onto the scene as they won the Seniors +40 Doubles at the World Doubles Championships. A year later, they once again are standing at the top of the podium.

They had to work hard to get there, beating Balázs Francia and György Janzer in a close semi-final. Their badminton was ultimately too strong, with Magnus Åberg and Stefan Nilsson falling to Fyrst and Smit in the final. Francia and Janzer did eventually reach the final, beating Sanjeev Kumar and Dirk Skock.

The full Seniors +45 Doubles results are available here.

Women’s +45 Doubles

Three pairs fought for the Women’s +45 Doubles title. Eventually the title decider came down a clash between defending champions Jo Shelley and Katrin Maldre, and Silke Altmann and Anita Voelkel.

While the match was competitive throughout, Altmann and Voelkel had the edge throughout, winning the first two sports 21-13 to open up enough of a gap to stop any late comeback. Despite their proficiency in the Women Seniors Singles, this is the first Women’s Seniors Doubles World Championship title that either player has won. Dianne Baker and Zuzana Vancuríková finished with the bronze medal.

The full Women’s +45 Doubles results are available here.

Mixed +45 Doubles

Unfortunately, a number of scheduling conflicts meant that the Mixed +45 Doubles draw was hampered by a flurry of withdrawals. We were left with a final showdown that features Katrin Maldre and Ashutosh Avinash Pednekar taking on Nora Barta-Boncz and István Sági.

Pednekar has already proven he is on red-hot form and demonstrated it again in the final. The Indian player and Maldre romped home to victory, winning by 27 points before tennis to seal the title. For Pednekar, that completes a perfect weekend for him as he won all three of his categories.

The full Mixed +45 Doubles results are available here.

Juniors U18 Doubles

We were delighted to see the Juniors U18 Doubles category make its first appearance at a Racketlon World Championships and were delighted to see a couple of cracking matches. The first came in the semi-finals, where Jesse Kilkunen and Lucas Steyer played some flawless squash to eliminate top seeds Cameron Leighton and Cornelius Ried.

The final against Bastian Böhm and Leon Sam was also a thriller. Böhm and Sam led after table tennis but the Finnish-French pair came alive in the middle to sports to eventually be crowned the first-ever Juniors U18 Doubles World Champions. Leighton and Ried did finish on the podium with a bronze medal.

The full Juniors U18 Doubles results are available here.

Mixed U18 Doubles

While he may have only picked up a brone in the Juniors U18 Doubles, it was gold for Cornelius Ried in the Mixed U18 Doubles. The German was back playing alongside fellow countrywoman Alina Reissenauer.

In the final, the Germans faced British duo Bethany Pye and Cameron Leighton. It was the Brits who raced into a 21-9 lead. However, Reissenauer and Ried won the next three sports to be crowned the first ever Mixed U18 Doubles World Champions.

Bastian Böhm found himself on another podium as he and partner Paulina Steiner ended the day with a bronze medal.

The full Mixed U18 Doubles results are available here.

Seniors +50 Doubles

One of the major stories of this year’s Racketlon World Championships has been the emergence of India as a true force in racketlon. For a number of years now, the Indian team has been growing in strength and ability. This year, it has already delivered a gold medal in five different categories.

One such category is the Seniors +50 Doubles, where Monesh Mashruwala and Ashutosh Avinash Pednekar rolled to the title. They rolled into the final with comfortable wins over Zoltan Czingraber and Levente Nándori, and then Giovanni Gentile and Manfred Grab.

In the final, against Martin Bartoš and Jan Port, the Indian duo were near flawless. They won the first three sports to leave them needing just three in tennis, which they achieved with ease. A fourth career world title for Pednekar and a first for Mashruwala.

The full Seniors +50 Doubles results are available here.

Seniors +55 Doubles

The award for the best final of the tournament absolutely goes to the Seniors +55 Doubles. Top seeds Frank Böhm and Thomas Knaack against second seeds Giovanni Gentile and Manfred Grab. By the end, they were separated by just one point.

The Swiss pair won the table tennis 21-10. What followed was a magnificent German comeback. They won the table tennis 21-14 and then snuck a crucial squash 25-23. In the tennis, the two pairs battled away, nip and tuck from start to finish. At the very end, Böhm and Knaack pulled away to win 21-18. A magnificent weekend for both, with Knaack now a three-category World Champion.

The full Men’s +55 Doubles results are available here.

Mixed +55 Doubles

Three pairs would battle it out for the Mixed +55 Doubles title. Top seeds Zuzana Vancuríková and Richard Hobzik, defending champions Carola Von Heimburg and Peter Sákovics, and British duo Dianne Baker and Rakesh Gupta.

With Baker and Gupta being defeated by both pairs, it came down to a final between the other two. It was the regular Czech duo that flew into the lead, winning the first two sports 21-7. That left the defending champions with too much to do. For the first time in their long career as doubles partners, Vancuríková and Hobzik were declared World Champions.

The full Mixed +55 Doubles results are available here.

Juniors U16 Doubles

An ideal way to win a tournament is to knock out a tonne of seeded players in the process. A perfect way to win is to play three matches and knock out the top three seeds. Austrian pair Leo Hörtinger and Leonhard Prager managed just that, winning Austria’s first gold of the championships in the process.

They came through their first two matches with ease, but the final against Great Britain’s Ollie Barton and Chase Burgess was a battle. They found themselves 18 up after badminton before the British fightback began. Barton and Burgess won squash 21-13 and were leading the tennis 17-11 before the Austrians won the decisive point. A fantastic reaction from the Austrians as they were crowned champions at their home tournament.

The full Juniors U16 Doubles results are available here.

Girls U16 Doubles

One of the major themes of the World Championships was the ongoing battle between Great Britain and Germany. The two nations met again in the final of the Girls U16 Doubles, with top seeds Alina Reissenauer and Lena Schaedler taking on No.2 seeds Bethany Pye and Holly Ranson.

The British duo had the edge in the final. Winning the first two sports 21-11 left them in a good position. Taking the squash 21-16 left them in a great position. Winning three points on the tennis court left them as World Champions. A great achievement for Pye and Ranson in their first World Championships.

The full Girls U16 Doubles results are available here.

Mixed U16 Doubles

The honour of the last final of the tournament went to the Mixed U16 Doubles. India’s Aadirai K A and Aadith K A faced Marie Beranová and Michal Fojtík early on Monday evening, after both had to battle hard to reach the final.

The final itself was dominated by the Indian duo. They won the table tennis to single figures before backing that up with a 21-10 badminton win. 17-4 was the score in squash when the match was concluded. A superb second gold medal for Aadirai, with both now heading to Graz to contend in the Elite and Amateurs categories.

The full Mixed U16 Doubles results are avialable here.

Seniors +60 Doubles

For three-quarter of the Seniors +60 Doubles final, you could not choose a winner. Hungarian duo Tibor Karolyi and Peter Sákovics and Swedish pair Hans Bjarnehed and Magnus Edby were almost inseparable. The Hungarians won the table tennis 21-18 and badminton 22-20 before the Swedes fought back, winning 22-20 in the squash. The match was won on the tennis court.

Sákovics and Karolyi were simply awesome. They pulled away early and never relented, winning the tennis 19-4 to secure another World Doubles title together. For Sákovics, that’s now five Seniors Doubles world titles, another record on the Seniors circuit.

The full Seniors +60 Seniors results are available here.

Seniors +65 Doubles

If the Seniors +55 Doubles final was the best decider of the tournament, then this was a close second. Graham Cain and Steen Hesselbjerg have been dominant at this category in recent years. However, Graham King and Julian Clapp decided that he era of the Danes was over.

They won the table tennis 21-12 and squash 21-18 in the final between the two. Cain and Hesselbjerg took the badminton 21-17, which left the British-Swiss pair needing 14 on the tennis court. They held their nerve, losing the set 14-19 but winning the match by three points after a late flurry of King magic.

The Seniors +65 results are available here.

Juniors U13 Doubles

Juniors U13 Teams champions Daniel Austin and Charlie Hill from Great Britain were back in the final of the Juniors U13 Doubles, looking to win two titles together as a pair.

Czech Republic’s Michal Fojtík and Borys Wasilewski had other plans though. The made an extremely fast start, winning the first two sets 21-12 to open up a bit gap. That was extended with 21-17 on the squash court and they finished the match with a simple tennis win. A superb world title for the pair, especially Wasilewski, who was making his first ever international racketlon appearance.

The full Juniors U13 Doubles results are available here.

Juniors U12 Doubles

The Juniors U12 Doubles saw another battle between Germany and Australia. The two nations had brought Juniors in big numbers for this category, but it was Germany’s Nina Altmann and Yorsalem Luul against Austria’s Robin Sam and Romeo Sam that faced off for the title.

Having earlier won the Juniors U12 Doubles, Romeo Sam was looking to win two titles at the Championships. Alongside his brother he managed this, beating the German pair to secure first place.

The full Juniors U12 Doubles results are available here.

Juniors U10 Doubles

The youngest of our doubles categories was the Juniors U10 Doubles, with a range of youngsters taking their first steps in the sport.

In the end, the all German final between Charlotte Böll and Anthony Müller against Elizaveta Eliseeva and Robin Sach was won by Böll and Müller. An enormous congratulations to the Germans and also to all the other youngsters that took part in this tournament. It was superb to see so many young players enjoying themselves and we hope to see more juniors from more nations playing in the future.

The full Juniors U10 Doubles results are available here.