The East Midlands Open 2024 swings into action this Sunday (24th March) at the Lee Westwood Sport Centre at Nottingham Trent University campus. Nottingham continues to be a hotbed for racketlon with both Trent and University of Nottingham attracting many talented racket sports players. This year’s event features a large number of first time players, who we hope will have a wonderful first racketlon experience and continue to build the sport’s presence in the East Midlands.
Last year’s edition featured a plethora of upsets, with no seeded player taking a title in any of the four men’s categories! David Bennett took home his first ever elite men’s title and Sophie Sawyer was victorious in the women’s elite.
In the Men’s A this year it may well be a different story however, with the World Champion Luke Griffiths seeded at #1. After a late promotion to the A after a drop out, Stuart Preston has the unenviable task of facing Luke in first round. The winner of that contest will face the victor of TT specialist Jamie Watkin-Rees and the on-form Jonny Ritter – fresh from his impressive victory at the Garden City Open just three weeks ago. Ollie Barton faces James Hempstead in an intriguing match up that looks set to feature plenty of swings in the score line whilst number #2 seed Matthew Davidson takes on friend and doubles partner from the La Santa Open, Ross Wilson.
The Women’s event features two groups of three, with UK number #1 Matilda Parslow the first seed in group A. Matilda starts against first-timer Kate Beaumont, a local tennis player introduced to the sport by racketlon legend Izzy Bramhall. The third player in group A is first-timer Yuzen Wong. Group B is led by second seed and UK Racketlon social media whizz, Satarra Thaker. Satarra will hope to use her strong badminton and squash skills to overcome Fiona James and UK Racketlon strategy director Kirsten Atkinson. The winner of each group will face off in the final.
The Seniors +40 draw looks set to be an epic battle between four well known faces in the racketlon community. Number #1 seed and TT maestro Keith Lesser will be the slight favourite after a fantastic performance at the Garden City Open, where he narrowly lost out to Mark Steeden. His opponents this time are UK #35 Simon Lau, UK #28 Peter Barton, and UK #21 Ed Westmacott. Ed and Simon will be out for revenge after Keith defeated them both in Letchworth and Peter will be no doubt be a threat with his squash skills and generally steady play.
In the Seniors +55 category, there is again a great deal of racketlon experience. Former World Seniors Singles champion Martyn Langston is favourite and number #1 seed and will start against the towering Lee Gregson. Badminton specialist Gary Lane will start against Nottingham racketlon stalwart Geoff Woods.
Men’s B is headed up by number #1 seed Tom Watson, who, although a relative newcomer to the sport, is showing excellent promise and finished 3rd in a very strong men’s B at the Garden City Open last month. Tom starts against first-timer Oliver Watts, who has a background in both badminton and squash and could prove a tricky customer. The winner will face either James Trueman or Rohan Shergill, players with similar profiles, favouring badminton and tennis. In the bottom section of the draw, Rob Rhodes faces the unknown quantity of first-timer Charlie Naylor. Finally, we see the return to action of number #2 seed Kieran Shelley and he takes on talented badminton player Joseph Scott.
Men’s C features many new players, however number #1 seed Justin Crowther will be a strong favourite, having taken 2023 World Championship titles in the seniors +45 and +50 mixed doubles with training partner Izzy Bramhall. TT supremo and number #2 seed Leigh Ware will be looking to meet Justin in the final, should they negotiate their respective draws, with the rest of the field made up of first time players. Shropshire badminton captain Josh Guest may be one to watch.
In the Men’s D, number #1 seed Greg Eden will be hoping to use his strong badminton skills to full effect against improving junior James Vincent in the first round. Other familiar faces include Henry Vernon, who won the Men’s C at the 2023 Stamford Open, and number #2 seed Stuart Vincent. Could we see a family clash here?!
Men’s E category features number #1 seeded Ray Ryan, who is a fantastic supporter of the UK tour and recently competed at the Thailand Open (we’re not jealous at all…). Ray will face first-timer Steve Halliday in the first round. Second seed is TT specialist Patrick Jeffrey and he starts against junior tennis player Monty Adams.
Last, but not least is the First Timer Singles. Obviously any kind of predictions or seedings would be futile here, but we wish all four players the best of luck and hope they enjoy their first racketlon experience!
Good luck to everybody on Sunday. Results will be posted on tournament software and look out for the tournament review coming next week.
Happy racketlon-ing to you all!