Malta Open
01. Oktober 2016
The second Malta Open took place at the Marsa Sports Club from 23.09.2016 - 25.09.2016. With Esther Dübendorfer, Patrick Bürgi, Florian Dübendorfer, Simon Engler, Graham King, Andreas Neuweiler and Michael Strässle the Swiss selection wasn’t very big, but very successful.
Esther Dübendorfer won gold medals in both Mixed B (with partner Jordan Dainty from GB) and Women Seniors +45, and also a bronze medal in Women Seniors +40.
Michael Strässle won a gold medal in the Men B and together with Simon Engler a Gold medal in the Men B Doubles. Graham King won a bronze Medal in Seniors +45 and Florian Dübendorfer won a silver medal in Men D. This results in a total of 7 medals for the Swiss Team. Congratulations to these amazing results!
The Men B category was dominated by Michael Strässle. With this win Michael proved that his time in the Men B is definitely over and that he belongs to the Elite class. After beating the Great Britain guys Johnny Bispham and Jonathan Spinks in the first two rounds he got to the semi-final where he met Pieter De Bleeckere. After sharing the opening sports 21-11 to Michael and 21-12 to Pieter, Pieter won Squash with 25-23. Michael fought back in tennis and won with 21-7 to earn his place in the final where he had to play against Jordan Dainty. Michael dominated the final and won with 21-12, 21-18, 21-8. After a bad start in table tennis (1-5) Michael played an absolute amazing set in table tennis to make the preliminary decision. After some solid badminton, he secured the win with a concentrated squash performance.
The other Swiss player in the Men B, Andreas Neuweiler, had an unlucky draw in the first round where he had to play against later finalist Jordan Dainty. Unfortunately his other matches went the same way. It was visible that Andreas was not 100% fit due to a foot injury.
In the Men B doubles all Swiss player were seeded and therefore profit from a Bye in the first round. Patrick Bürgi and Roland Pichler were seeded as N°1 and Michael Strässle and Simon Engler as N° 3. If both would have won their quarter finals they would have met in the semis. Both team were looking forward to this match but unfortunately Patrick and Roland lost in the quarter finals against Jordan Dainty/Jonathan Spinks, so this “Swiss-Semi” match didn’t take place.
In the Men B doubles all Swiss player were seeded and therefore profit from a Bye in the first round. Patrick Bürgi and Roland Pichler were seeded as N°1 and Michael Strässle and Simon Engler as N° 3. If both would have won their quarter finals they would have met in the semis. Both team were looking forward to this match but unfortunately Patrick and Roland lost in the quarter finals against Jordan Dainty/Jonathan Spinks, so this “Swiss-Semi” match didn’t take place.
After winning their quarter-finals against the German doubles pair Fabio Leibig/Felix Fischer, Michael Strässle and Simon Engler had to play against the conquerors of Bürgi/Pichler. After beating them 17-21; 21-17; 21-17; 18-8 they went on to the final where they had to play against Johnny Bispham/Pieter de Bleeckere. But also this doubles pair was not able to stop the Swiss team. Strässle and Engler won 21-16; 16-21; 21-15; 16-12. The doubles pair Bürgi/Pichler won their last match and finished the tournament in fifth place.
In the Mixed doubles B, Esther Dübendorfer played with Jordan Dainty, playing his first tournament outside of Great Britain. After a close win in the quarter-finals against Carola von Heimburg/James Pope (+5) they had to play in the semi-final against No. 1 seeds Dianne Baker/Jack Bishop whom they beat 21-11; 21-14; 14-21; 12-10. In the final they beat Fabio Leibig/Anita Voelkl without needing to use a tennis Racket 21-18; 21-9; 21-12. It was interesting to see that Esther played the second half in squash. This was shown to be the right tactic. Jordan always won against the women and Esther was always able to get several points against each of her opponents.
The Women +45 and + 40 was played in a group of four players. In the Women + 45 Esther Dübendorfer won all three matches against Jo Shelley, Dianne Baker and Heike Voigt. The closest Match was against Jo, which Esther won after tennis with only +4. The two squash players gave a high quality and interesting squash set which was won by Jo with 19-21. But even despite one of her infrequent losses in squash, Esther was able to win thanks to a strong table tennis performance (21-7).
In the Women +40, Esther, beat Karen King in the first match. Unfortunately the other two players Anita Voelkl and Carola von Heimburg were a little bit too strong for Esther, though both matches went to tennis after two great comebacks in squash. The match against Carola was very close ending up with only +3 for Carola.
In the Men C Patrick Bürgi and Simon Engler took part. Simon won his first round match against Felix Fischer and then against Jean Michot in the quarter-finals to get to the semi-finals, where he was due to play against Frank Kleiber, the new president from Racketlon Germany. Unfortunately Simon lost against Frank and ended up in fourth place. Patrick won his first round against Brandley Hindle but lost in the quarter-final to the later winner Fabio Leibig. After winning the next two matches he finished the tournament in fifth place. The participation of Brandley Hindle was a small highlight of the tournament. He still is a professional squash player (highest PSA Ranking 64) and won all his three squash matches 21:0.
The Men D was played in a group of five players. Florian Dübendorfer was able to beat three players, only losing against the unbeaten winner Stuart Scourfield from Wales.
The elite categories were dominated by Germany and Sweden. The Men A was won by Swedish ex-World Champion Stefan Adamsson, who beat his fellow countryman Sebastian Hedlund in the final. Third place went to Danish Morten Jaksland.
The Women A was won by Amke Fischer beating Silke Altman in the final. The all-German podium was completed with Natalie Paul, who beat Lilian Druve in Gummiarm. The Men A Double was won by Duncan Stahl/Dan Busby from Great Brittan (the only elite winners not from Germany or Sweden) beating Stefan Adamsson/Sebastian Hedlund in a Gummiarm. The Women A Double was played in a group and was won by Amke Fischer/ Natalie Paul in front of Lilian Druve/Kirsten Kaptein. The Mixed A Double was won by Amke Fischer/Stefan Adamsson beating Natalie Paul and Kresten Hougaard in the final.
Additional to the tournament several off-court events were organized. Besides the usual Players Party on Saturday evening, there was a free sightseeing tour on Thursday, a players barbecue on Friday evening and a boat trip to a very lovely Blue Lagoon bay on Monday. All of these events were enjoyed by a lot of players and were huge fun. All these events, the great location and the good organisation from Duncan Stahl and his team made this tournament to an unforgettable experience.
Patrick Bürgi
