Last Sunday, South Africa successfully hosted the biggest SAT tournament ever. The tournament was played at an extremely fast pace, with each match being played to 11, so that every one of the 76 competitors was guaranteed at least three matches. The first three sports were held in a university sports hall, while the tennis was played five minutes down the road, at the foot of Table Mountain. Due to the travel distance between the third and fourth sport, the tournament was played in a similar way to the team format at the World Championships, where everyone in the box played each other at one sport before moving onto the next.
In the Women’s A nine players took to the court, to fight for the title. After many tough matches, both Alice Makombore and Zoe Du Plesis qualified for the final, with impressive displays throughout the early rounds. Du Plesis didn’t drop a tennis set and Makombore didn’t lose a set of badminton, on their way to the final. In the final, Du Plesis put on an extremely strong performance in all four sports, claiming the victory and first place, prior to tennis. Sinovuyo Quintana and Pelokazi Nongqele both shared 3/4th place, after strong performances in the group stages.
In the Men’s A, Geevarghese Panicker, Roscoe Kerby, Jon Spinks, and Patrick Filsberg, all secured themselves a place in the semi-finals, after winning their groups. Graham King, who only just missed out on reaching the semis, after a single loss in the group stages to Kerby, was playing in his 30th country on the World Racketlon Tour, a fantastic achievement. After two strong semi-final performances by Kerby and Spinks, the final line-up was decided. The final went all the way to tennis, with Spinks, who is a regular player on the UK tour, securing the victory and the title.
The Women’s B was played as a round-robin, with all four players playing many extremely competitive matches. However, there could only be one winner, Khanyisile Mjalo, who won all three of her matches with some very solid performances in the last three sports, including an 11-1 win in squash and in badminton. Jordan Scoble came second, only losing to the winner, while Tracy Makamure finished third.
In the Men’s B, Men’s C, Women’s C and Men’s D, the competitions were not played beyond the group stages due to fading light, but all players had a great time, with many of the players saying that they would love to play a tournament again in the future.
Overall, feedback from the players was extremely positive with many saying that they had a brilliant time and some even expressed interest in entering a World Championships in the future.
Thank you to the organisers for running the tournament, and hopefully it won’t be too long before there is another one in South Africa!
