Anaïs Ben Mansour became the new, first-time World Champion after a thrilling match against Anna-Klara Ahlmer that in no way stuck to the script.
Indeed the fact she got to final in the first place was somewhat unexpected, as shown by the fact the World Champion the following two days played for France’s second team, in the Nations Cup, a scary proposition for the women in that category, albeit no chicanery involved. Compatriot Pauline Cavé is number one in the world (for now at least…) and the two are basically 50/50 in terms of level. France have incredible strength in depth at this tournament.
To get to the final she faced Holly Ranson, world number seven but has been as high as number four; Amke Fischer, who beat former World Champion Stine Jacobsen in the first round; and then Pauline in the semi-final. A very tough route up the mountain.
Anaïs said, “Unbelievable. When I started the tournament I was not expecting that. I could have lost in the first round. So I am really, really happy.”
Her opponent, Anna-Klara Ahlmer from Sweden, whose played nearly 600 games and won many titles, started by winning the table tennis 21 10. That was one thing that did mostly go to script, although Anaïs picked up some more points than expected – some vital points at the end for the French woman after being 15-5 down.
But then the weirdness began. The odds for this match showed Anaïs at 1.05 and Anna-Klara at much lower odds – 7.40. That was built largely on the expected big win for Anaïs in the badminton…
However, not only was it not the big score expected, Anna-Klara won the set. Anaïs kept edging in front, and it seemed she would pull away, maybe at the turn. But Anna-Klara clung on and increasingly played superb badminton. It must have been some of the best badminton if not the best badminton AKA has ever played, hitting lines everywhere, to win 21 18.
The crowd were murmuring that the final was sort of over at that point, as Anna-Klara was expected to win the squash. It was very neck-and-neck up until just before the turn, but then Anna-Klara Ahlmer starting hitting into the tin, perhaps sensing the finish line and Anaïs, cheered on by a raucous French-dominated crowd, triumphed 21 12.
Still, the match was very much in the balance, between two very good tennis players. Faultless tennis from Anaïs, with no errors leading Anna-Klara to make mistakes, sealed the win 21-5.
Anaïs said, “Yeah it was really unexpected. I expected to be winning after the badminton. I expected to lose maybe six points, seven points… but not to lose the match!” “So I was really upset after the badminton, but I knew what I had to do… very very big squash. I gave all the energy I had on squash and it worked so really happy.”
Many will be wondering just how she got so good so fast. A combination of talent and a lot of training. She explains, “I started tennis at the age of seven and I played for 14 years, I think. I had a very good ranking in France.”
“I started badminton at 18 and I ended the tennis at 18 or 19. And I heard about racketlon I think two years ago. I entered a tournament in France. It went really well.
“Last year I entered category B here and I won, so then I started the table tennis in September and the squash too.” “I trained really really a lot. Maybe three times a week at table tennis and two times at squash and I kept going with tennis and badminton once a week. So a lot of training and that’s where I’m at.”
It, needless to say, paid off…
