Jo Shelley is “over the moon” after becoming the Women’s Seniors +50 title for a staggering sixth time in a row!
It was, however, far from smooth sailing against Swedish Titti Wigren. At table tennis, Titti was extremely solid. Many points came not from winners but errors and forced errors from Jo. That said, Jo said afterwards she was only expecting three so it was clearly tactical from Titti, who probably had a few more gears to go to if needed.
To add insult to injury, the Swede saw her looping shot hit a huge side edge on set point. Jo was despairing, even kind of looking accusingly at the table, as if it was to blame. Of course it wasn’t, but it’s safe to say we’ve all been there at points playing racketlon.
The badminton was crucial and Jo put in a very strong performance to win to 9, then to 3 in squash, which was pretty much to be expected in Jo’s strongest sport.
So Jo needed in 11 in tennis. Titti was making it nervy and difficult, playing a lot of moonballs and slice shots. Jo was trailing 6-2 and 9-4, but then Jo found the tactics and patience to deal with it and took the win 11-10.
She said, “It feels amazing to be honest. I’m in shock. I’ve had a pretty rough year with injuries so I didn’t really come into the event with any real expectation of winning. I was in arguably the hardest group. But I really pushed through. Maybe that’s better for me, when I don’t put the pressure on myself. I’m absolutely over the moon.”
“I know she’s super, super strong at table tennis, but that’s my second sport but I was hoping for five. So two was disappointing. Of course it’s only three points, but we all know in racketlon that can make a big difference.”
She added that she was very happy the badminton, where coaching from her son Kieran helped, and then did the job as expected in squash. “I knew she played moonball tennis, which I hate, so I’m really pleased with the way I dealt with it. I just had to focus. I could hear people cheering for me in the background and it’s really nice to hear.”
Nicole Eisler won in the Women’s Senior +40, cheered on by husband and seven-month-old son Nael in his custom-made racketlon sweater! She beat Indian Shivani Kejriwal 21-2, 21-7, 21-5.
She said, “It’s a dream come true. It was better with Nael here, but it also makes it difficult because I am always with one eye looking what he is doing but I try to focus and my husband was there so I know everything will be fine.”
Funnily enough, Nicole’s winning margins actually increased as the eight-woman event progressed, winning plus 14 first against Kirsten I. Kaptein, then plus 26 against Pauline Dutry from France. On the other side of the draw, Shivani won plus 27 against Karen King but then got a walkover as unfortunately Fabienne Dony from the Netherlands was taken to hospital with what was confirmed as a ruptured achilles.
Shivani loved the experience of her first World Championships, saying she can learn a lot from Nicole (and others). “It’s a true come true, because since I was a kid I have always want to play for my nation, India, and it’s just great because when I come here and especially when I see Nicole, she’s an inspiration, and everyone around is so inspiring. It’s a great experience and I’m taking back a lot of great memories and inspiration stories to inspire women and men back home.”
Meanwhile, in the Seniors +40 Mohammed Tarik Koubaa (AKA ‘Mr Racketlon’ for all his amazing promo of racketlon, including selfie videos with Djokovic and Murray no less!) continued his superb form of late with a commanding title. None of his winning margins, even including the final, were lower than 20. He was taken to tennis on two occasions, including the final, but won those 8-0 and 6-0.
The final was against Frenchman Bertrand Carlier, who is very solid across all four sports, as it proved here, but the World No.19 (open age rankings) had too much quality, triumphing 21-14, 21-14, 21-19, 6-0.
Laurent Cocriamont was also dominant in the Seniors +45, only needing to pick his tennis racket out of his bag for the final, even though in the semi-final he beat very strong opposition in the form of Thomas Branke, Men’s B finalist, +29.
Nikola Mikac from Croatia (great to see a player from Croatia) provided the sternest opposition but the Frenchman was just too good, winning 22-20, 21-10, 18-21, 12-10.
Sandra Ettenauer from Austria won the Women Seniors +45 with three wins in a roundrobin of four.
Mathias Fagerström stormed to a win in the Seniors +50. A true dark horse, he only has ten recorded international matches but they are all wins – another five in the same event last year. (Perhaps the only player in Tournament Software with double figures and a 100 percent win rate?!) One to watch out for in the Swedish team in the World Cup for sure.
Levente Nándori produced an amazing comeback from 23 down at the halfway point against Thomas Knaack in the Seniors +50. Tennis was particularly impressive. Thomas is no slouch on the tennis court, but still the Hungarian produced a basically faultless display, losing just one point.
Izzy Bramhall breezed to a win in the Women Seniors +55, beating Czech Zuzana Vancuríková 21-8, 21-10, 21-2 in the final. Over all games she did not need tennis, and her toughest match was actually her first, a 21-4, 12-21, 21-4 victory over German Heike Voigt.
It was rather less clear cut for Germans Volker Sach and Dirk Skock on their way to the Seniors +60 final. Dirk squeezed past Richard Hobzik 21-3, 5-21, 8-21, 21-8 in their quarter-final, while Volker Sach had a walkover against Krishna Bhagwan Kotak who retired and then beat Magnus Edby in their quarter-final by just one point, before Frank Kleiber unfortunately had to retire in their semi-final with the score at 18-21 (to Frank) and 15-7 (to Volker). Fortunately, both made it to the end of a tightly contested final where squash was the difference – 14-21, 21-18, 21-5, 10-13 to Volker Sach.
Carola Von Heimburg was dominant in the Women’s Seniors +60 category, winning all four matches in the five-woman round-robin with a three-figure difference between points won and lost (254 won and 148 lost). Kathrin Maldre of the USA provided her toughest opposition – and it could have been nervier had the American given herself more breathing room in tennis. It ended 21-18, 21-8, 21-16, 1-8. But it was Sarah Ball from GB who took an impressive second place with wins against all but the German.
Peter Sákovics won yet another title in the form of the Seniors +65 category. The Hungarian is a racketlon machine, with 61 golds.
Steen Hesselbjerg of Denmark won the Seniors +70 category after four wins in roundrobins of three players in a nine-man draw.
