Record Entry and New Champs Crowned in Racketball Doubles Tournament
Our 2025 Racketball Doubles Tournament took place last night with a record entry of 8 pairs, some of which were new and untested partnerships. Our three-times defending champions Manjit Ubhi & Sam Morris were searching for their fourth consecutive title.
We began with two round-robin groups of four pairs, with each pair playing one game to 21 points against each other. In group 1 Manjit & Sam and Jools Cooper & Yogi Karambaya had both won two of their matches, with Jools & Yogi winning their head-to-head match 21-15 to top the group.
Group 2 was a real tussle between three pairs – Steve Barlow & Ian Thomas, Athar Ahmad & Matt Towers and Ryan Pescod & Pat O’Riordan. The crunch match was between Athar & Matt and Ryan & Pat, who battled to 20 points each, before Athar & Matt clinched a sudden death decider point.
The semi-finals were an intriguing line up of two first-time pairs lining up against more experienced doubles opponents and in both matches the first-timers prevailed. The first semi was extremely close, with the second game going to a sudden death point, whilst in the second semi-final we saw the first defeat in four years of the defending champions.
Jools & Yogi beat Ryan & Pat 11-9 / 11-10
Athar & Matt beat Manjit & Sam 11-9 / 11-5
And so to the final. With no past form to go by it was impossible to predict the outcome. All four players retrieved consistently well and so winning shots were in short supply. Yogi chased every ball and rescued many a rally with his speed around court while Jools played his usual perfect width and length. All four players chose to hit hard and long, rarely daring to drop any balls short. Slightly more consistency and guile from Athar & Matt proved to be the decisive factor, clinching the title 11-8 / 11-7 after some long, tough rallies.
Well played to all the players! The next big Racketball event to watch is the Handicap final on Thursday 27th November, during club night. Don’t miss it!
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