The Challenge Cup is bigger than it’s ever been, with a whopping 19 teams competing to take home the title.
It’s a great sign for the development of racketlon both in general and after COVID. Let’s take a look at some of the teams competing.
1st seeds are Germany 4, comprising the hugely experienced Christian Börner (404 international racketlon matches), Michael Lechner, Thomas Nussbächer, Christian Schupp, Christoph Steckermeier, Stefan Steckermeier, and Manuela Stegmann.
But, by a quirk of the seeding system, Germany also have their 3rd team in the competition, who could be dark horses.
Great Britain 5s are second seeds. The GB camp has, until now, stuck to no more than four teams, despite the fours having achieved bronze and silver in the Challenge Cup last two years. But such is the quality this year they have elected to go with five, with Kieran Shelley, Joel Durston, and James Trueman from last year’s 4s taking spots here. They are joined by James Pope, making a welcome return to international team racketlon, young players Jordan Marcus and Kirsten Atkinson, and GB’s fourth best table tennis player Mollie Patterson.
The Great Britain 4s, the third seeds, include four players who have just 48 international matches between them – Reuben Cox (15), Henry Jones (5), Stuart Preston (20), and Tom Watson (8). Kate Marian Russell has been playing tournaments for several years and Jon Spinks has a lot of experience – many more international games than the rest put together. This explains why they are seeded lower than the 5ths, but it belies the fact that all the players have been getting strong results on the UK court and so the team goes into the Challenge Cup as one of the favourites.
Denmark 2 are headed by Kim Ljunberg-Jensen, planner extraordinaire of the World Doubles and Nordic Racket Games and a very handy player to boot, who is hopeful of their chances. He says, “I am really looking forward to the team event. I’m actually surprised that we’re seeded because we have at least two players that are not ranked and I didn’t consider the rest of the team as highly ranked. My team is ambitious and we’re optimistic. Personally I hope we will play for medals.”
Elsewhere, USA bring their second team from over the pond and Norway field their first ever team. These two will play in the pick of the first round matches (there are only three – all others have byes in the 19-draw). India have entered a first team in the Challenge Cup having played in the World Cup last year but still have quality; France have four teams (3rds to 6ths); Hong Kong China now bring a third team, a sign of how thriving the sport is there. The other spots are made up of the Czech Republic, Switzerland 2, Hungary, Afghanistan, Germany 5, and Netherlands 2.
Follow the Challenge Cup here.
