We’re preparing for exciting matches this weekend at the 2023 FIR Racketlon World Doubles Championships at the Roehampton Club in London. We’ve got returning champions and new pairs entering the stage as they will all battle it out to become World Champions.
Griffiths brothers trying to retain their title
The Griffiths brothers will try to retain their title after their win over the second seeds Jaksland/Hougaard. Leon and Luke won the French Open this season, beating the Swiss duo Champod/Lenggenhager in the final. Their first match will be against Radermacher/Wiessner or Davidson/Wilson who are set to meet in the first round. Radermacher has won the men’s elite doubles German Open, and Wiessner made it to the final of the Nordic Racket Games with Plettenberg. For Davidson/Wilson this is their first IWT match of the season and it will be exciting to see what they can do on home ground.
Duthuillé/Champod are 3/4 seed and will face either wildcards Mouchet/Narayanaswamy or Plettenberg/Thyregod. Both dangerous pairings, Thyregod won the Finnish Open men’s elite doubles and Plettenberg finished second at the Nordic Racket Games and won the German Open with Radermacher. Narayamaswamy finished second at the IWT Swiss Open and he will play with Mouchet who doesn’t have that much experience in doubles but can’t be underestimated.
At the other side of the draw, 3/4 seeds Hageraats/Lenggenhager will play the winner of IWT Finnish Open champions Pennanen/Penttinen or New Zealand duo Main/Wiggin. Hageraats hasn’t played many events yet this season due to some injuries, but he returned to the tour at the German Open earlier this month. Lenggenhager has been in good form this season, winning the men’s elite IWT Polish Open and making the finals in France. Pennanen/Penttinen had a good start to the season, finishing second at the Finnish Open, and finishing third at the Nordic Racket Games. Main/Wiggin have been overseas for some time, doing a Europe trip and competing in various Racketlon tournaments across Europe. Wiggin won the Challenger Racket Masters Augsburg two weeks ago, Main/Wiggin finished second at the Men’s B German Open.
Second seeds and last year’s runner-ups Hougaard/Jaksland will play either Finnish duo Kainulainen/Mustonen or British duo Haynes/Langworthy. Jaksland/Hougaard won the IWT Nordic Racket Games, and Jaksland won the IWT Finnish Open. Kainulainen/Mustonen finished second at the 2021 FIR World Doubles Championships and are an experienced pair. Langworthy won the 2022 London Open men’s B doubles and Haynes won the 2022 German Open men’s B doubles, it will be interesting to see what the British pair can do.
The men’s elite doubles will start on Thursday at 10AM. The full draw can be found here
Ahlmer/Enmer top seeds again, aiming to do one better
Ahlmer/Enmer are the top seeds again for the women’s elite doubles draw, and will try to do one better after losing to Jacobsen/Severinová in the final last year. Severinová unfortunately isn’t playing this year. The top seeds will play their first match against Swiss duo Ladner/Wavre. Ahlmer has been picking up titles this year, winning the women’s doubles in Denmark, Finland and Poland. Enmer unfortunately has been out for most of the season with an injury but returned successfully at the Swiss Open last month. Ladner finished second at the Nordic Racket Games and Wavre finished second with Ahlmer in Lausanne but this time they will be on opposite sites of the court.
The second quarter-final is between Bramhall/Jacobsen and Dilloway/Parslow. Jacobsen is the current Women’s Doubles World Champion and has won the women’s doubles in Finland at the start of the season. Bramhall is very experienced, she finished second in the women’s doubles at the CHA Nick Matthew Steel City Open last year, she had a big surgery in November and was told she may not play again, but has worked hard to be at the World Championships this year. This will unfortunately be her last elite world doubles championships as she has to undergo extensive wrist surgery but we can’t wait to see them both in action this week. Dilloway and Parslow finished third at the 2022 FIR World Doubles Championships women’s B last year, and made the final of the 2022 London Open together.
On the bottom half of the draw, American duo Chung/Schickerling face British duo Lau/Ogram for a place in the semi-finals. Chung/Schickerling were crowned women’s B World Champions last year and will try to get as far as possible in the women’s A this year. Chung has been very active on the IWT tour this season, taking silver medals in Germany, Denmark and Finland. Lau/Ogram are the current Girls u21 doubles champions, but both haven’t played much on the IWT tour this season but have been playing UK tour events.
The last quarter-final is between second seeds Allègre/Kaptein and Paul/Fischer. A very exciting match, Allègre won the IWT Swiss Open and French Open women’s doubles and finished second in Germany, and Kaptein won the IWT Lausanne Open and IWT Polish Open women’s doubles. Paul, a former World Doubles Champion returned to Racketlon after a two-year break at the Challenger Racket Masters Augsburg two weeks ago, and Fischer is also making her first appearance since the 2021 FIR World Doubles Championships where Fischer and Paul finished second.
The women’s matches start on Thursday at 10AM. The draw can be found here
Jacobsen/Radermacher aiming for gold
Jacobsen/Radermacher are the top seeds for the mixed doubles event at this year’s World Championships. They finished second in 2021 and third in Austria last year. They have been in good form this season, winning the Finnish and German Open together. They will face German duo Paul and Radermachers men’s doubles partner Wiessner in their first round. The second quarter-final is between K A and Narayanaswamy, who won the mixed B doubles last year. They face in form duo Allègre/Champod, who have won silver medals in France and Germany together.
The bottom half of the draw sees mixed elite world no 1 Ahlmer pair up with Thyregod. They have played together before, winning the 2022 Malta Open, and will face British duo Parslow/Bispham. Parslow/Bispham made the final of the mixed B amateur doubles in La Santa in December, and finished second at last year’s Mixed B amateur doubles at the world championships. The winner of this match will play either second seeds Enmer/Luke Griffiths or wildcards Fischer/Penttinen. Penttinen hasn’t played that many mixed matches before, and the last time Fischer played mixed doubles was with Leon Griffiths at the 2021 FIR World Championships where they finished third. Luke Griffiths finished second at the La Santa Elite mixed doubles in December, and Enmer won the 2022 mixed doubles London Open last year.
The Mixed Elite matches will start on Thursday at 12:40 PM. The draw can be found here
All other draws can be found here as we get ready for a busy weekend full of Racketlon.
Sanne Veldkamp/ FIR Media Officer
