IWT Nordic Racket Games | Tournament preview

Racketlon returns to Denmark this week for the IWT Nordic Racket Games. It is promising to be an exciting event, with five of the men’s top 10 players present, and all women being in the top 25 of the world. Matches will start at 9 am tomorrow and we can’t wait to see who will crown themselves Nordic Open Champions at on Sunday.

Ahlmer looking for her third title of the 2023 season

Anna-Klara Ahlmer is clearly in good form this season, making the final of the Finnish Open, and winning two IWT titles in almost two weeks in Poland and Lausanne. She will be targeting another title, and possibly the no 1 position on the June rankings again, as the gap with Jacobsen is only 36 points. She will face strong opposition throughout the tournament. Her first round will be against America’s Stephanie Chung. Chung finished fourth at the Finnish Open and will be playing her second IWT tournament of the season. The other quarter-final at the top half of the draw will be between Swiss world no 12 Dara Ladner and UK’s world no 25 Holly Ranson. At the bottom part of the draw, it will be the battle of the French and the closest battle ranking-wise, as world no 20 Haurant is playing fellow countrywomen and world no 21 Allègre in what seems to be a very exciting match-up. The other quarter-final is between world no 19 Vogel and the no 2 seed and world no 4 Kaptein. Kaptein will be looking to claim her first title of the season, after finishing on the podium in Poland and Lausanne.

Jaksland aiming for his first IWT title of the season on home soil but faces tough opposition

Jaksland will be aiming for his first IWT title of the season, and get some points on Leon Griffiths who overtake him on the rankings as the new world no 1. Jaksland has his work set out for him, with five of the world’s top 10 players set to compete, with Finnish Open champion Luka Penttinen and Polish Open Champion René Lindberg proving to be in fine form. Jaksland will start his opening match against Kurek, and will possibly meet fellow Dane Kresten Hougaard in the quarter-finals if he manages to battle past James Langworthy. Also on the bottom side of the draw is 3/4 seed Lenggenhager who will take on wildcard Emil Gunnarsson whilst Mandrin Mouchet takes on the other wildcard Jacob Steinmetz. On the top half of the draw, world no 1 and top seed Leon Griffiths will aim to do better after failing to reach the final at the French Open. He will play Christian Wiessner in his opening round. His potential quarter-final match will be either world no 28 Joel Pennanen or Polish Open champion Lindberg. The other quarter-finals are between world no 42 Malte Thyregod and world no 19 Max Plettenberg, and Finnish Open Champion Luka Penttinen and 3/4 seed Sylvain Ternon.

Doubles – strong Danish interest

The bottom half of the men’s elite doubles draw has strong Danish interest. No 2 seeds Hougaard/Jaksland face Kurek/Lorkiewicz in their opening round, whilst the other quarter-final will be an all Danish affair with Thyregod/Wittrup-Nielsen playing Fyrst/Smit. On the top half of the draw, top seeds Lenggenhager/Lindberg face German duo Plettengerg/Wiessner whilst Finnish Open runner-ups Pennanen/Penttinen face British duo Griffiths/Langworthy.  The women’s elite doubles will be a round robin. Top seeds Allègre/Kaptein will play Haurant/Souin in their first match, whilst no 2 seeds Krogsoe/Ranson play Chung/Ladner. Ahlmer/Vogel play Haurant/Souin in their first match of the day. The mixed elite doubles is also a draw of 8. Top seeds Ahlmer/Thyregod wil face Vogel/Hougaard. Ahlmer/Thyregod finished on the podium in Finland and will try to go for gold here in Denmark. The other quarter final at the top half on the draw will be between French Open Champions Allègre/Champod and Polish Open medalists Kaptein/Lorkiewicz. Both pairings play together quite often so this will be a very exciting match. At the bottom half of the draw, British duo Ranson/Bennet will face Chung/Lenggenhager whilst no 2 seeds Ladner/Ladner face Krogsoe/Pichler.

The doubles will start on Friday and the singles start on Saturday. It’s going to be a busy weekend, with a 112 players participating. The draws can be found here

Sanne Veldkamp / FIR Media Officer

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