Canada has, sadly, been a little out of the international racketlon scene of late, but one young star looking to change that is Amir Lavasani.
Having just turned 17, he took 5/6th place in the Juniors u18 and fourth in the u21 events at the World Championships in Rotterdam this summer.
The last Canada team in a World Championships was in Denmark in 2016, where their elite team, including seasoned player Patrick Laplante, beat Great Britain in an epic encounter (plus two) on their way to fourth place. Their plus 45 team came in fourth place of six. The same year, they hosted an IWT event in Granby, Quebec, near the US border.
Since, Canada has sadly not submitted a team in the World Championships. But, if anyone can drag Canada back onto the international racketlon scene in earnest, like teams such as USA, India, and Hong Kong making the long journeys to Europe, it will be Amir.
The results were strong enough for Patrick Laplante, following the results from home, to text Amir’s dad to say it was “pretty amazing” what Amir was doing. Amir’s father suggested Canada put a team together again off the back of this and says that Patrick was warm to the idea, so watch this space…
Such is Amir’s passion for racketlon, which he heard about from his badminton coach, he has dedicated YouTube and Instagram accounts for his matches at racketlon and the four sports, under the name/brand Hybrid Racket Sports Athlete, and he is very committed to growing the sport.
“I find it’s really interesting and enjoyable to combine all four racket sports together,” he says. “It’s really fun to play racketlon. And the whole community, despite being competitive, is friendly.”
He’s managed to pack in a whole lot of racket sports already. He started badminton at about seven years old and has played a lot, including tournaments, even making it to Team Canada at one point.
With a grandfather that his dad describes as the “father of table tennis in Iran” (head coach, manager of teams, then head of the federation), Amir and his father have played a lot, during COVID especially as they bought a table at home to be able to practise while other sports facilities were closed.
At squash, he has made the team for the Province of Quebec and tennis he started in summer 2024 and got serious about this April, in preparation for the World Championships.
On his performance on Rotterdam, he says, “Honestly, I’m proud of myself for what I achieved, but I think I always could have done better in both events, mostly in the Under 18.”
“I think I could have played better and at least made it in the top four and. In the Under 21 too, I think I could have made it to the top, but regardless I’m proud of my results.”
In Rotterdam in the u18s, he beat Czech Dominik Pluskal comfortably, before tennis, then missed out in the quarters by just two points against Chase Burgess of Great Britain 21 14, 15 21, 16 21, 21 15. Thanks largely to a dominant badminton showing, he then beat another Brit, Raif Fontanelli, in the final match to take 6th/7th place.
In the u21s, he first breezed past Leon Steiner of Austria then secured a brilliant scalp of world no.22 (open age) Andreas Kotala – 14 21, 21 12, 21 13, 12 10. Brit Anant Gupta, world no 48, prevailed in the semi-final 18 21, 21 19, 21 8, 10 17 (very impressive tennis given he has only played it a few years). Then Leon Sam got a walkover for third place.
Also, earlier this year he took fourth place in the elite at the Massachusetts Open Challenger, losing narrowly to Patrick Moran in the semi.
That Amir is not completely satisfied with such great performances is a great sign of his progress and ambitions, so watch out…and, if you are a future opponent, beware!
