The fantastic city of Cape Town will soon play host to the SAT South African Open, the biggest Satellite racketlon tournament ever!
With 76 entries (Redbridge is the next biggest Satellite tournament with 60), it is also the biggest ever World Tour event in the Southern Hemisphere and the first World Tour tournament in Africa, demonstrating how racketlon is growing around the world.
In very promising signs for the game in South Africa, all but two of the entries are from South Africa itself (one is a Swede in South Africa for a long time and another his daughter), hopefully giving South Africans a taste of our great sport that will encourage them to become more of an established presence on the Tour and at World Championships events.
It is also very encouraging that the tournament, helped by the FIR Development Fund, features 26 women and players from all different backgrounds in the Rainbow Nation.
“We are looking forward to this event,” says tournament director and head of Racketlon South Africa Patric Kalous (who actually owns a rackets retail business called ‘Racketlon‘!).
“It’s been a long time coming. Last time we had a racketlon event was in 2020 and we had over the entrance limit. People have been hungry for another tournament.”
“We finally had a chance to and, pushed by FIR, made it a satellite tournament on the World Tour, thereby getting a couple of international players. We are all excited. 76 entries is quite amazing. People I don’t actually know have entered so it’s going to be a whole lot and new faces and a few of the old faces. More new than old.
“The venue in Cape Town is in Rondebosch, a university arena where all the squash and the badminton table tennis is in one hall. The venue is great. We have got all we need. We are looking forward to using it again. It’s been five years in the making and we are amped and ready to go!”
The institution, the University of Cape Town, the top-ranked university in Africa, is nestled in the foothills of the spectacular Table Mountain Range, and within easy range of the beautiful waterfront; Robben Island, where Nelson Mandela was for 18 years of his 27 years imprisonment during Apartheid; and Cape of Good Hope, with its many penguins at Boulders Beach.
The scenery is something that attracted British player Jon Spinks.
He explains, “By a happy coincidence I already had a three-week holiday travelling through South Africa, Namibia and Botswana starting on the Monday, so I decided to move my flight a day earlier and play. This means I’m only taking a TT bat and will be borrowing all the other rackets, but I’m very much looking forward to a different experience!”
Playing in the elite category, it will be very interesting to see how he fares against the South Africans. It looks like there are some strong players (video below from Patric of a tournament nine years ago at the same venue).
Graham King, as ever a great help in developing our sport, is the FIR Delegate for the tournament and also making the long journey South.
He says, “I’m thrilled to help organise such an unexpectedly big tournament in a completely new venue for FIR! 76 players, including 26 women, is a fantastic sign for the racketlon potential in the country, and hopefully we might be able to stage some follow-up racketlon activities, and even persuade some of them to play the World Champs next summer!”
“It is truly a great use of the FIR Development Fund to kickstart racketlon again in South Africa, after a period of post-Covid hibernation!
“Also, with my wife being from South Africa, I know the country pretty well, and have always loved the Western Cape, so an excuse to go to Cape Town, combining racketlon, family time and a bit of relaxation/sight-seeing, is a real gift. Not to mention that South Africa will become the 30th country in which I have played a racketlon tournament. 😊”
Patrick says the idea of a South Africa team at the World Champs is, while difficult due the cost involved, a “dream of mine” and something he wants to push for.
Here’s hoping…
Follow our website, Facebook page, Instagram page, and Tournament Software for news and updates on the tournament. The draws are out now.
