IWT French Open
05. März 2023
The tournament could also have taken place at the North Pole, because the temperatures in the venue were freezing. But still the Swiss players were hot for the medals. It is not easy to count all the Swiss medals that the Swiss delegation brought home from Paris at the weekend. A look at the medal table shows 9 ½ medals! 4x gold, 4½ x silver and 1x bronze.
Let’s get started with the titles:
Nicole Eisler wins her first IWT title in a few years. The women’s final was between a very experienced player, Nicole Eisler, and a quite new Racketlon player from France, Marie Jaussein. This is Jaussein’s first IWT tournament, and she can be proud of the impression she left in the Racketlon community. Eisler started strong in table tennis, winning 21-10. Jaussein then bounced back by winning badminton 21-8. She played very smart, moving Nicole around the court and wrong-footing her sometimes. Going into squash Jaussein was leading by two points. Eisler played some amazing squash, focused, and determined not making any errors. She took it 21-3. The relief after squash was noticeable for Eisler, as she only needed six more points to claim the title. It was still not over, and especially against such a strong tennis player as Jaussein. Jaussein maybe felt the pressure of Racketlon a bit, making some errors early on, giving Eisler the belief that she also makes mistakes. Eisler stayed calm and composed, it was 11-4 at the change and she knew she “only” needed two more points. A great rally and Jaussein just found the net, 6-13 to Nicole.
Together with her partner from France, Flore Allègre, she also managed to win the women elite doubles! Flore didn’t just pair up with a Swiss in WD, but also with table tennis specialist Nicolas Champod in the Mixed doubles. The couple brought home the gold medal as well. A sensation on his own was youngster Andreas Kotala. He won the u16 by a mile, winning all his matches +42.
Switzerland has also found a new successful doubles. Manfred Grab and Bruno Scherrer rocked the Men C doubles. As top seeds, they showed that they complemented each other perfectly and thus won the tournament.
Silver shone also around the necks of Champod, Grab and Scherrer for the 2nd time. Champod together with Nicolas Lenggenhager in the Men's Elite Doubles, Grab in the Men's +50 and Scherrer together with the Paris-based Swiss Amandine Souin in the Mixed Doubles B. Grab even doubled again in the Men's Doubles +40. Together with Beat Ladner. Thus Grab traveled home from Paris with 3 medals!
Eisler also won a 3rd medal. Together with Noah Mamié they also reached the podium in the Elite Mixed Doubles (bronze).
The other Swiss also sweated a bit in the cold, even if it was not enough for a medal. Oliver Bühler sweated against the later finalist in the quarterfinals also off court, Dara Ladner won in a placement match against the number 1 seed in the Women's Elite and Christian Schäfer sweated probably also because of a caught virus. Graham King, FIR Delegate, also had to seat a bit off court and behind the scene of helping the organisers around Joss Gadé to achieve a great tournament. Thank you. And last but not least, the Mamié brothers had a family duel in their last match in Paris. Who of them won the family tournament this time and what else happened, you can see at the results in detail. Here is the link.
Conclusion: Medals shine, and some eyes also shine at the sight of French waiters. This sentence should actually have been written in German, so that the person concerned can understand it.
NE
Swiss Racketlon Partner
Turniervorschau
Aktuelle Rankings (1. Dezember 2024)
Herren Einzel
1. Oliver Bühler
2. Nicolas Lenggenhager
3. Christian Schäfer
4. Yannic Andrey
5. Noah Mamié
6. Joshua Zeoli
7. Léon Mamié
8. Cyril Hohl
9. Magnus Ekstrand
10. Patrick Casanova
Damen Einzel
1. Nathalie Vogel
2. Nicole Eisler
3. Fabienne Dony
4. Adeline Kilchenmann
5. Linda Rohrer
Die gesamten Rankings findet ihr hier.
