23 Février 2018

As always when the Champions League is played, the competition in the single events gets extremely tense. The four Swiss Racketeers had to admit that some opponents were just better. No medal was won.

The highlight though was the team competition. Two teams from Switzerland led by Dara Ladner (Team Two) and Benjamin Hampl were involved. While the second team (including the indestructible Graham King) fought valiantly until complete exhaustion, no points could be earned. On the other hand for team one, the expert review before the beginning of the Champions League has to be quoted again as it could not have been more false.

"At the other end of the table, I sadly see it as a long season for two teams, the Swiss Army Knives and debutants, the Swedish Vikings. A lot rides on the Vikings young star, Luka Pentinnen who will lead the side in Sweden. While Cédric Junillon will strenghten the side in Germany, the key question will be on the form of captain Anna-Klara Ahlmer also in Germany as she recovers from injury. They will be aiming at the Swiss Army Knives to avoid the wooden spoon. The knives lost the majority of their stars from 2017 and face an uphill struggle 2018, the first leg in Sweden will be crucial for their final placing."

Swiss Army Knives 1 delivered an excellent performance, mainly on the back of the almost unknown female player Stine Jacobsen, and won 2 out of the three games, finishing the first leg in an unexpected third place.

Dara Ladner just recovered in time from her injury to be able to play. Having no strength left after the Champions League, she only finished second in her group and 6th in the end. Rumours had it, that some energy got lost in the night before her last match. The indestructible Graham King certainly played the most matches out of all participants. But for once he had be content with a fourth place. Marc-André Rauber, also one of our more senior competitors, got a bit unlucky in some of the matches and therefore had to congratulate his opponents more often than not. The writer, Benjamin Hampl, drew a nasty Swedish Wild Card in Christian Wall. Would he have been able to close the squash set, it might have taken a different ending. To toss out the bad feeling after his loss, he almost bagled Hans Sherpa in Tennis and finished Ninth as the rest of his opponents were too scared to even show up.  

Benjamin Hampl

(Swiss Army Knives 1 from left to right: Benjamin Hampl (Captain), Alex Du Noyer (GB), Stine Jacobsen (DEN), Ed Harvey (GB))

(Swiss Army Knives 2 from left to right: Graham King, Dara Ladner (Captain), Frederik Groth (SWE))

11 Février 2018

Die ersten Sieger der Night Tour 2018 stehen fest…

Christian Schäfer sorgt für Überraschung…

Er gewinnt der Reihe nach gegen Benjamin Hampl, Nico Hobi und Patrick Lorenz…

Lorenz bleibt im Ranking klar die Nr. 1, aber sein Vorsprung schmilzt…

Hobi sichert sich Platz 3 in Frauenfeld…

Stefan Imhof dominiert in der Kategorie B und lässt Beat Ladner im Final keine Chance…

Nicole Eisler setzt sich im kleinen Final hauchdünn gegen Rückkehrer Tuncay Koç durch…

Top Seed Fabian Ebneter siegt in der Kategorie C…

Dahinter folgen die Junioren Léon Mamié und Leonard Ladner…

Nach längerer Pause kehrt Pascal Sutter auf die Tour zurück und gewinnt gleich in der Kategorie D…

Im Final wird Sutter von Gabriel Schnell hart gefordert…

Rang drei geht an Fabio Cusano…

Einzelne Spieler haben wie in Frauenfeld üblich am Spaghetti Buffet die bessere Figur gemacht als auf dem Platz…

Andere bekundeten bei der Anreise Mühe mit ihrem Zeit Management…

Unter dem Strich aber ein gelungener Start in die Racketlon Saison mit verdienten Siegern sowie Verlierern, die ebenfalls stolz auf ihre Leistung sein dürfen und sich der Herausforderung Racketlon (einmal mehr) gestellt haben…

Danke an das Team von HP Tennis für die Gastfreundschaft…

Resultate...

In zwei Wochen geht es in Langnau am Albis mit der Tour bereits weiter…

Nicht zögern, noch heute anmelden!!!

Beat Ladner