James Silvester (teacher of Mathematics and Master-in-charge of Tennis) represented Great Britain in the FIR Racketlon European Championships, held in Prague, Czech Republic between 26 and 30 November.
Table tennis, badminton, squash and tennis; these are sports that the majority of the world would have heard of. What happens when you put all of these together? You get Racketlon. Imagine Andy Murray playing Nick Matthew at a game of badminton; Lin Dan playing Rafael Nadal at squash. This sport challenges players physically and mentally by taking them out of their comfort zone. Each sport is played first to 21 points (or 11 in team events) with the winner being the player with the highest cumulative score - every point counts. In the team event, there are 5 players in a side: 2 x men’s singles, 1 x ladies singles, 1 x men’s doubles. Play always starts with the smallest racket (table tennis) and ending up with the largest racket (tennis). The serve alternates every 2 points.
The opening fixture for Great Britain was against Denmark – a traditional badminton powerhouse in the Racketlon playing world. Great Britain soon pressed ahead in the table tennis, and once held together after the squash, there would be no stopping them as they pressed on to a 152 – 107 (+45) victory. Momentum was held as GB played the Netherlands and emerged victorious 146 – 98 (+48).
Austria and Sweden were the next fixtures for the GB team. In the Austria match, James was pitted against an opponent who had beaten him in Vienna at the start of the year. There was to be no repeat here; not only did James record an individual +12 victory, the tennis rackets weren’t needed. A team victory of (+27) ensured a top 2 finish. Sweden were seeded top and proved tough competition; not only strength in depth, but their female player was the World Tour Race winner (i.e. the player with the most world ranking points in the calendar year). All the matches were tight, but despite James winning his individual match-up +1 against the Swedish number 1, the opponents narrowly came out on top by a margin of +4.
Great Britain was awarded the silver medal – an excellent achievement. The next challenge will be when the World Team Championships take place in Copenhagen in July 2016.
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Photographs top left to bottom right:
Tennis - James’s comparative strength, Playing table tennis against Sweden, Contemplating how to beat a nationally ranked badminton player from Denmark, The end of a tennis match against Sweden.
Team Results:
Great Britain 152 – 107 Denmark (+45)
Great Britain 146 – 98 Netherlands (+48)
Great Britain 145 – 118 Austria (+27)
Great Britain 142 – 146 Sweden (- 4)