Let's Join

CHALLENGE THE ONE IN THE MIRROR!

2010-03-19T05:01:00.000-07:00

CHALLENGE THE ONE IN THE MIRROR!

Have you ever wondered if you can be a all rounder racket player? One cannot perform well if they don’t see the strengths inside of them. A great sportsman or individual take personal inventory on their GOD-given gifts. This impact both their self-image and consequently their results.

Some whom we have approached rejected the idea of Racketlon when they realize the challenge of competing in all 4 racket games. The fear inside them brought them further away from realizing their potential. In actual fact, most of the participants who joined us are only well versed in a racket or two….for some, they are just beginners in all the 4 games.

I have a story to share…..

There was a young basketball player who cut from the varsity team during his tenth grade year. It would be easy for him to evaluate himself and say, ‘That’s it, I quit.’ He took hard look at his own strengths and began to develop them. Many believe that he’s the best player ever. This man is Michael Jordan, the great basketball player. He had to do what all of us have to do. He had to take inventory. He had to see his skills and talents as the gold on the inside, despite what his coach thought. Today, not only he is good in basketball, he ventured into baseball as well.

In life, we cannot consistently perform in a manner that is inconsistent with the way you see yourself. In life, there is an imaginery line called your potential. It stands for who you really are, what you can really do if you want to do it. There is another imaginery line that represents your self image. It stands for who you think you are, what you think you can pull off. You will usually perform at a level that reflects your perspective of yourself.

How do i feel RACKETLON !!!!1

2010-03-12T19:15:00.000-08:00

Playing one racket game is tough enough. Especially with all the trainings on footwork & strokes. I still recall those challenging younger days training for squash. It wasn't a game of checkers but a game of chess. Every individual players were different and they had their own strengths.

When I was exposed to the game of Racketlon, I thought it was the same. I still recall my first Racketlon opponent, a Kenyan who was both a table tennis & squash player.

In Racketlon, we were supposed to play from the smallest racket to the biggest racket. We had to play Table Tennis, Badminton, Squash and lastly, Tennis.

My opponent was able to play 'screw' ball for table tennis and that was quite a mental stress for me. As that was my first time playing competitive table tennis, I've only managed gather 5 points and I was virtually down by 16 points.

In our second game which was badminton, I knew I had the advantage as badminton was my second strength after squash. In badminton, my strategy was just to tire my opponent and not kill the ball as I knew stamina & endurance was one of the major challenge in racketlon. That game, the score was 21 - 5 and we were tied again.

It came to squash, a game which both of us were better at. Initially, it was tough to re-adjust the strokes as the racket face for both badminton & squash were entirely different. My opponent was a hard hitter & his stamina was admirable. Probably because he was from Kenya. Thankfully, I had the upper hand for ball control & I managed to edge him out for squash. Finally, I had the score advantage & the mental pressure was soon on my opponent.

Tennis was an interesting match for both of us as we have never touch tennis racket before before we came to Dunlop INTI Racketlon Challenge 2006. We were both making a fool out of ourselves as it soon became a game of baseball! Well, it all turned out a tight game and I won by just 5 points (21 - 15).

That was my first ever experience and that was all that was needed for me to become a Racketlon fan for life.

I look forward to playing Racketlon 2010. For a nation which is strong at both badminton & squash, I believe Racketlon will soon be a big hit at Malaysia!

Racketlon Change my mind ~~

2010-03-04T07:17:00.000-08:00

The Battle of Squash Super-STAR!!!!

2010-02-26T00:22:00.001-08:00

On April 28th 2009, one of the most splendid first-class century warfare was launched in INTI International University! Malaysian squash star and world ranked No. 15, Ong Beng Hee faced Malaysian squash national sports team coach Alan Pete Sauza.

During the first round table tennis match, the unusual yet amusing gestures of both squash champions playing table tennis, provoked laughter the audiences in scene. During the second round which was the badminton match, both players played beyond expectations of the crowd as they were well-matched and the tactical game was very intense.

In Racketlon, the competition begins and never stop until the very last minute, when we will never know who is going to be the ultimate winner because the contestants must grasp four links (table tennis, badminton, squash and tennis) in each point and the best part of it is that every point is a key, a point, a victory that brings you a step closer to the next round.

When both players were given the access to the greatest weapon of all, the squash racket, they played a Racketlon squash match with splendid skills that brought the auditorium to a state of shock and silence. Imagine during such intense game, one of the audiences was invited into the court by Ong Beng Hee to play along and that stirred up some entertainment and laughers among the audience.
Although the sun was scorching at the tennis court, our squash star and national sports team coach displayed their impressive athletic spirit and completed the competition. It was obvious that both players well prepared. After an exciting game of tennis by both squash superstars, finally, the student beat the coach and the winner of the match was Bengy.

After the game, two squash stars let go of their competitive nature and displayed the friendly side of them, took some picture with the contestants of INTI Racketlon 2009, their families, and fans who have traveled a long way to come to see their favorite sport superstars playing Racketlon. It was indeed a memorable moment for many!

Thus can be seen, Racketlon, a versatile game which is not necessarily a sport which can be won by looking at the skills alone. It also emphasizes the physical strength, mental ability and strategies. You need not necessarily be a sport star to triumph at Racketlon. But you must have a strong passion in the sport. Racketlon gives you a total different experience and perhaps one day, you will become a world-class King of Rackets!

Racketlon Asia !!!!!!!!!!

2010-02-21T08:39:00.000-08:00

Since Gothenburg 2001, when Racketlon turned international, it has often been specualted within the racketlon community about whether the best racket player in the world might come from Asia, given the exceptional quality of some of the Asian racket communities. With Dunlop INTI Racketlon 2006 and INTI Racketlon 2009, small steps has been taken towards finding it out.

It's no coincidence that Malaysia becomes amongst the first Asian country to be visited by the racketlon "fever". Think about it.. Malaysia is surrounded by nations of international racket champions. Look at Singapore, Thailand and Indonesia, The nation of badminton legends.

Malaysia, homecountry to Lee Chong Wei (current World No.1 and recent Malaysia Open 2009 champion, Badminton), Nicol David (current World No.1, Squash)

Singapore, Li Jiawei (Singles Semi finalist and Team Silver Medalist of Olympics 2008, Table Tennis)

Thailand, Paradorn Srichaphan (Former World No. 9, Tennis), Boonsak Ponsana (Singapore Open 2007 Champion, Badminton)

Indonesia, Taufik Hidayat (Former World Champion & Olympic Champion), Sony Dwi Kuncoro, (Bronze Medalist of World Championship 2009, Badminton)

With the racket communities in the ASEAN nation (not forgetting China and India), it's just a matter of time that the next Racketlon champion might be an Asian!

Some Memories from Racketlon Challege 2009

2010-01-26T23:01:00.000-08:00

Hi, These are some photo and memories from Racketlon Challege 2009, let cheer up for the past event and hope the Racketlon Challege 2010 will be launched successfully, BRAVO!!!

Here are some VIP and star player who had attended last year!

Guest of honour:
Dato Ramlan (General Director of National Sports Institute Malaysia)

Star Players:
Ong Beng Hee(Squash World top 15,Malaysia No.1)
Alan Pete Sauza(National Squash Coach)
Muhd Asyraf Azan (Squash Player,Malaysia rank. 4)
Siti Munirah Jusof (Squash Player,Malaysia rank. 6)
Nabilla Ariffin (Squash Player,Malaysia rank .7)
Kenneth Low(Former Malaysia Squash Open Champion)
Qi Quen Chai (Table Tennis Player,MAPCU Table Tennis champion
Beh Lee Wei(Table Tennis Player, Malaysia rank. 1)

The History of Racketlon

2010-01-22T06:45:00.000-08:00

The History of Racketlon

The origins of Racketlon can be traced back to Scandinavia in the mid '80s, where four people representing each of the four racket Federations got together in Finland to form a game they called Mailapelit - i.e. "Racket Games". The first Finnish Championships were held in Helsinki in 1986 and the sport rapidly grew and slowly changed to the Racketlon format.

In Sweden, Racketlon can be traced back to, at least the end of the '80s. In May 1989 the "Mr Racketlon" of Sweden and twice National Champion, Peter Landberg, organized the first competition. The following year, in 1990, the first Swedish Championships took place and attracted more than 200 players.During the first couple of years, the name "Racketlon" was not yet invented.

Instead, "Racket Championship” was used. Also, the rules were different. For some time in the beginning, the ambition was to keep the characteristic rules of counting in each of the sports. E.g. Tennis set was played to 6 games,the badminton set to 15 points, where only the server can get a point and so forth. This method of
counting, however, required some fairly complicated mathematics involving conversion tables. After a tight match, often it was not clear to the players who had actually won until the mathematics had beendone.

Then, in 1994, the present rules of counting were introduced, thanks to an unexpected discovery.It was found out that a similar game, Mailapelit, was played in Finland. The Finnish game contained the same sports but the counting was different and much simpler - "Each set to 21 points - most points is the winner". These rules were straightforwardly imported and the 1994 Swedish Racketlon Championships
were using the Finnish counting, which has been the case ever since.

As already mentioned, Racketlon also emerged in Finland under the name of Mailapelit(i.e. "Racket Games"). Interestingly, the Swedish and Finnish developments seem to have occurred independently at around the same time. It was only after several years of activity that the movements got to know about each other with the result mentioned above that the Finnish rules were adopted by the Swedes. Various indications show that activities similar to Racketlon are going on in many places of theworld.

In Germany, for example "Schlägerturniere" (Eng. racket tournaments) involving 3, 4 or even 5 rackets seem quite common. (The fifth Schläger being a golf club...) In England there are vague traces of something called Quintathlon covering squash, tennis, rackets, real court tennis and (again!) golf.

A significant step towards the Internationalization of Racketlon was taken in the autumn of 2001 when the first ever International Racketlon tournament took place. Gothenburg Racketlon World Openwas played from the 2nd-4th of November, 2001. This was when the Finnish and Swedish Racketlon elites first faced each other and the result was no less than a shock to the somewhat conceited Swedish
Racketlon community. The Finns won both the Prestigious Men's and Ladies' Elite Classes and a final victory in the Men's Veteran class made it painfully obvious to the Swedes that they had been the victims of a clean sweep and totally unexpected too.

Players from six different countries took part. Apart from Finland and Sweden, Scotland, France,Germany and Bulgaria were represented. Since then, one milestone after another have been reached,The first international Racketlon tournament in Finland was played in May 2002 and in the same year, the first Racketlon tournament outside Scandinavia took place in Scotland in mid August. At the second World
Championships in Gothenburg 2002, a National Team Competition was played for the first time.

The premiere of the World Tour was in 2003.The International Racketlon Federation (IRF) was founded on 15th September 2002. Official languages are French, English and German and the acronym later changed to French FIR - Federation
Internationale de Racketlon. The first FIR COUNCIL was elected in October 2005 at a General Meetingduring English Open in London.

The Rules of Racketlon- Part 1

2009-12-19T21:10:00.000-08:00

Definition of Racketlon
The following 3 principles need to be fulfilled in order for a sport to qualify for the term Racketlon:

a) The game must include the following four sports: table tennis, badminton, squash and tennis.

b) The game must be built on the concept of a Racketlon match involving the same two individuals
playing each other in all four sports - with identically formatted sets being played in each sport.
c) Each rally must count. The player who wins most rallies in total is the winner of the Racketlon
match.
Any sport that fulfills the 3 principles above is Racketlon. Any other sport involving the combination of
several racket sports might be termed "multi racket sport" - but is not Racketlon.

(Singles Rules)

Set Order:
From smaller to larger rackets.
The four sets shall be played in the following order:
table tennis, badminton, squash, tennis

Scoring:
a) Running score to 21. Margin of two points.
Every rally results in a point to the winner of the rally - i.e. "running score" is applied - and the winner of each set is the player who first reaches 21 points.

b) Total points count.
The winner of a Racketlon match is not the one that wins most sets but the one that scores the most points in total. This means that it is possible to lose three out of the four sets and still win the match.

c) Early interruption.
If any of the players so wishes the match shall be stopped as soon as (a) the winner has enough points for the match to be decided - AND (b) the rest of the points have no other significance. (Note that group play is sometimes decided through counting total points difference. In that case (b) might apply and the rest of the points might still have significance for the result of the group, in which case each match shall be played to the end.).

d) Tiebreak.
If, after all 4 sets, both players have exactly the same number of points the Gummiarm Tiebreak applies, see below.

Serving & Ends of Court:

a) The toss.
The initial order of serving, receiving and ends in each of the four sets shall be decided by one single toss before the match starts, according to the following procedure:
The winner of the toss decides whether to start serving or receiving in table tennis. The player, who starts serving in table tennis, starts receiving in badminton, starts serving in squash and starts receiving in tennis.
In each set (except in squash, of course) the player who starts receiving decides what end to start the set from.

b) Two serves each.
After every two points the serve goes to the other player. At the first of these two serves the server always serves from the right (except in table tennis, of course). The second serve is from the left side.

c) Switch at 11.
Ends are switched at the time when 11 points are first reached by any of the players.

d) One serve each after 20-20.
After 20-20 the serve switches hand after every point until the set is decided.

The two first serves are from the right, the two next serves are from the left and so on.

e) Second serve in tennis.
In the tennis set, the server has two chances - first and second service - just as in normal tennis. This is not, however, valid at Gummiarm Tiebreak, see below.

To Be Continue>>>

【RACKETLON ASIA】

2009-12-14T06:00:00.000-08:00

WHAT?RACKETLON??

Racketlon is 4 rackets, 1 sport whereby these 4 rackets include table tennis, badminton, squash and tennis. Participants challenge their opponents in each of the 4 racket sports follow the sequence above (from light to heavy). A racketlon match contains 4 sets, one in each sport. Each set is played to 21 points. The total winner of a racketlon match is not the one that wins most sets but the one that scores the most points in total. The winner is the best all round racket player.

INTERNATIONAL RACKETLON

The first pioneer of Racketlon was without knowing so, Fred Perry, whose sports clothing is still well known around the world today. IN 1929 he became Table Tennis World Champion in Budapest and from 1934 to 1936 he won Wimbledon in Tennis three years in a row. What followed were further international table tennis medals and tennis grand slam victories.

In the year 2003, the sport Racketlon went on World Tour for he first time, thanks to some enthusiasts from Sweden, where national tournaments are held since 1990.

It all started in 2001, driven by enthusiasts with the aim to launch Racketlon internationally – a game that, at that time, was played only locally in 3 countries (Finland, Sweden, and Austria).

In 2008, The Racketlon World Tour, organized by the International Racketlon Federation, takes place for the sixth consecutive year and contains 12 tournaments in 12 countries. It peaks with the World Championship in Furth, Germany at the end of the year.

Given the fact that the first international Racketlon competition was played in November 2001 and a spectacular growth by almost 300% during the last three years (from 524 players to 1925 players from 48 different countries on the world ranking – referring to the period from Jan 2004 through Dec 2006) we believe that Racketlon is, at the moment, the fastest growing sport in the world.