Pauline Cavé and Luke Griffiths claim SWT Willingdon Indian Racketlon Open titles.

It has been an amazing three days in Mumbai at the Willingdon Sports Club for the last SWT of the season. A big thank you to the Indian Racketlon Federation and the Willingdon Club for organising such a great event.

Pauline Cavé has been on fire this year and claimed another title playing the best she has so far, beating the current World Champion Stine Jacobsen in the final. Cavé beat Chung +34 (21-10 21-10 21-9) in the semi-finals, whilst Jacobsen defeated Ranson by +18 (21-17 19-21 21-13 12-4).

Cavé and Jacobsen have played once before, at the IWT London Open in 2023 which Jacobsen won quite comfortably (21-10 21-5 21-12). Pauline Cavé has however made big strides this last year and showed what she can do on court. Cavé took table tennis 21-9, Jacobsen created a small lead for herself taking badminton 21-4.

Cavé played some fantastic squash in the second half, it was 11-7 at the break and she hit several winners to take it 21-9. This meant that Pauline Cavé needed 15 points to win tennis, which is her strongest sport. She took tennis 15-10 and the match +12 (21-9 4-21 21-9 15-10) to claim her second consecutive SWT title.

Holly Ranson beat Stephanie Chung +31 (21-19 21-7 21-6) for bronze.

The men’s elite final was between Leon and Luke Griffiths, which was as entertaining as ever. Leon battled past Joerg Kanonenberg in the semi-finals, who got the better of Kresten Hougaard in a fantastic quarter-final match which he managed to win by +3 (19-21 22-20 8-21 21-5).

Leon was slightly too strong for Joerg in the semi-finals, as he won the match +24 (21-17 21-9 21-13). Luke Griffiths got the better of Cornelius Radermacher in his semi-final match. Radermacher beat Lenggenhager in his quarter-final by +18 (15-21 21-19 21-11 21-9) whilst Luke beat Duncan +16 (19-21 21-7 21-18 7-6).

Luke went on to beat Radermacher by +31 (21-17 21-6 21-9) to set up another battle against his brother Leon in the final. It’s a close match every time they play, last year in India it was Luke who took the win +12 (12-21 21-17 21-14 21-11) and it was his time again this year.

Leon took table tennis 21-12 and Luke won badminton 21-16 which was similar to last year’s final. Luke created a bit of a lead in squash, taking it 21-9, but Leon bounced back in tennis and was looking for the win at 18-17. Luke managed to win the last four points of the match, taking tennis 21-18 and the match +1 (12-21 16-21 21-9 21-18).

Cornelius Radermacher finished third, taking an incredibly close table tennis 27-25 against Joerg Kanonenberg and the match +29 (27-25 21-11 21-4).

Women’s Elite | Men’s Elite

Open titles for – Patel, Kejriwal, Bali and Singh

Adit Patel claimed the men’s B title beating Virkamaditya Chaufla +20 (21-9 21-11 21-7 5-21) in the final. Giovanni Gentile finished third taking the match +29 (21-8 22-20 21-7) against Skand Swarup. Shivani Kejriwal won the women’s B title winning all her group matches. Bharati Thakore finished second and Rhea Kumar finished third.

The men’s C title went to Nakul Bali who beat Graham King +23 (17-21 21-0 21-15) in the final. Taher Haji beat Hemanya Gupta +26 (21-15 21-12 21-10) to finish third. The women’s C title went to Charvi Singh who beat Sarvapriya Jhawar by +16 (10-21 21-7 21-12 11-7). Alekha Jalan beat Sejal Mody +19 (16-21 21-8 21-2 5-3) to claim the bronze medal.

Men’s B | Women’s B | Men’s C | Women’s C

Junior and senior titles for – Parikh, Jatia, Koubaa, Kejriwal, Kumar, Singh and Kleiber

Nirvan Parikh won the U12 title after winning all his group matches. Prabir Cheema finished second and Advait Kejriwal finished third. The U16 title went to Raghav Jatia who beat Agastya Jain +9 (21-8 21-15 5-21 19-13) in the final.

The +40 title went to Mohammed Tarik Koubaa who beat Giovanni Gentile by +21 (14-21 21-6 21-8) in the final. Varun Motasha beat Graham King for bronze taking it +23 (18-21 21-5 21-11). Shivani Kejriwal claimed the women’s +40 title in a tense final beating Swapnal Chakrabarty by +1 (20-22 8-21 21-18 21-8). Renu Dalal finished third.

Sanjeev Kumar took the +45 title beating Mahesh Chhabria +15 (21-10 8-21 21-11 14-7) in the final. Nikhil Bhandare took the bronze medal. Varinder Singh took the +50 title after Navneet Narain unfortunately had to retire in the final. Gourav Rakshit finished third. The +55 title went to Chandrashekhar Pitre who won the final +5 (21-5 21-23 6-21 21-15) against Sanjay Mahadev Bawle.

Frank Kleiber took the +60 title, beating Sharma Swaroop M.Sant by +38 (21-9 21-7 21-9).

U12 | U16 | +40 | W+40 | +45 | +50 | +55 | +60

Don’t forget to enter the last tournament of the season before 12:00 GMT+1 tomorrow! We’re also looking ahead to the new season, with the first tournament in New Zealand at the end of January!