I had a brilliant time at the Polish SWT Open last weekend. The tournament venue had amazing facilities and was extremely well ran. Thank you to all those who worked so hard putting the tournamenttogether behind the scenes and those running the desk throughout. Iknow how much hard work goes on and it is very much appreciated. The tournament venue itself it spacious and perfect for a Racketlon tournament, with a fabulous Japanese restaurant in the venue and agood range of shops just a two-minute walk away. It was in a greatlocation and the shuttles made it extremely easy to get to and from the venue in the mornings and evenings from the tournament hotel. We were also located only half an hour from the airport and the Old Town, meaning it was incredibly easy to go sight-seeing and get to the airport. The Players’ Dinner was fantastic, with a wide range of dishes to choosefrom, and it was good to relax and catch up with other players.
It was great to see familiar faces from all over the world, get to know some new players and play so many competitive but fun matches throughout the weekend. I played in the singles, doubles and mixed and
had a great time playing with both of my brilliant partners, Stine Jacobsen and Anant Gupta – thank you both for agreeing to play with me. I had a tough draw, playing Stine (Women’s World Champion) in the
first round of both the singles and mixed doubles, but I was happy with how I played overall. As with every tournament, I came away with a long list of areas for improvement in all four sports!!
Notable results:
113 entrants played a multitude of matches across the three days in a variety of categories, and all had a great time with many competitive matches and even a few gummy arms.
Congratulations must go to Stine Jacobsen and Leon Griffiths who picked up the Elite titles in Poland. They both had an excellent tournament with Stine and Leon winning all of the categories they
entered. Throughout the women’s singles Stine only lost one sport (table tennis to Stephanie Chung). Another notable result was in the Men’s B amateur doubles where the final consisted of two father and son pairs. After a tight final the Czech pair Rostilav Kniezek and Šimon Kniezek came through and won against Rak and Anant Gupta. I also want to mention the junior categories (the future of Racketlon.)
There where many highly competitive matches across the junior categories, with lots of great sport on show. A particular congratulations should go to the winner of the Junior U18’s – Andreas Kontala who only dropped 36 points in the event, and similarly the winner of the girls under 16s – Ewa Kozlowska, who only dropped 46 points on the way to the title.
Sightseeing in Poland:
Before the tournament, I took the opportunity to go sightseeing in Warsaw Old Town with my parents, my sister Emma, Molly Patterson and Bastian Bohm. It was a really great experience, during which we managed to see many of the sights in the Old Town. We saw some amazing architecture and were
impressed with how clean and uncrowded the city was. There were many traditional Polish restaurants to try, and we ate a lovely meal in a Polish pub and enjoyed an ice-cream afterwards. After the tournament, along with Kirsten Atkinson and Mollie, we did end up reverting back to our old ways and went to
Pizza Hut for lunch. I would highly recommend the Polish International, with fantastic organisation
a warm welcome, a great venue, lovely food, and interesting sight-seeing on the doorstep – you couldn’t ask for more. I very much hope to be back next year!
Holly
