Czech Open & Doubles World Championships
28. November 2021
Last weekend, 12 Swiss players made their way to Prague to compete in the Doubles World Championships as well as the Czech Open. The weekend started out with the Doubles WCs where some Swiss players were quite successful.
In the Women’s B doubles Gaëlle Wavre teamed up with Dara Ladner. They played a solid tournament together that led them into the final, unfortunately they just fell short in the final that was played (too) early in the morning.
In the Senior 65+ Doubles Graham King won a silver medal with his British partner Julian Clapp only losing out to some well playing Danes.
Another Swiss success happened in the 40+ Doubles where Christian Schäfer/ Manfred Grab managed to grab a bronze medal after two hard fought losses in their group of 4.
In the Mixed B doubles with the number one and two seeds being two all Swiss pairs one could have only hoped for an all Swiss final. With Dara Ladner/ Beat Ladner and Gaëlle Wavre/ Nicolas Lenggenhager putting on some strong performances, both pairs managed to reach the final and make it a Swiss affair. Wavre/ Lenggenhager played a strong final and deservedly so won the title against Ladner/Ladner.
Some of the Swiss players started into the Czech Open with the hopes of doing better than the days before. With 3 players playing in the Men’s A draw it was very unfortunate that two of them already met in the first round with Nicolas Lenggenhager winning against Christian Schäfer. Nicolas Lenggenhager had quite a run and was only stopped by Leon Griffiths in the semifinals. After losing that semifinal he had to suffer another loss against Martin Sopko who earlier won against Oliver Bühler in the quarter finals.
In the Men’s B we came close to be treated with yet another Swiss final, but after winning his quarterfinal against fellow Swiss Leon Mamié, Michael Strässle took the short straw in a tightly competed semifinal. Noah Mamié on the other hand showed some brilliant performances that not only led him straight into the final but taking the title as well.
To draw a final conclusion of this weekend, the Swiss team managed to win 2x Gold medals, 3x Silver medals and 1x Bronze medal. Therefore, a big congrats to all medal winners and hopefully everyone was able to enjoy themselves playing there!
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