More than 200 male and female competitors from several dozen countries competed in the “Austria Open” Racketlon Tournament, held on November 24 and 25 at a modern sports facility on the outskirts of Vienna.

Successful Performances by Bolesławiec Players in Doubles

The Bolesławiec doubles team of Norbert Stolicki and Krzysztof Samonek made a successful debut. After a hard-fought match, our players defeated a Hungarian pair by 3 points. Their next match ended in victory for an Austrian-German pair. Following further wins, the Bolesławiec players ultimately took fifth place, which should nevertheless be regarded as a success in a championship of this level.

Another pair from Bolesławiec competing in the “Austria Open” was the mixed doubles team of Krystyna Szwajkowska and Jacek Szubert. In the first match, the Bolesławiec players easily defeated a German pair, and in the second, a Hungarian pair, winning by a substantial margin in table tennis, badminton and squash. After these decisive victories, our mixed doubles team reached the semifinals. Unfortunately, the subsequent matches were more closely contested, and in the semifinal the Germans defeated us by 14 points. In the match for third place, representatives of the Czech Republic defeated our mixed doubles team by 8 points, and the Bolesławiec players ultimately took fourth place.

Bolesławiec Players Succeed in Singles

Krystyna Szwajkowska also achieved a strong result, taking fourth place in the women’s singles in a highly competitive tournament. In her first match, Szwajkowska defeated Germany’s Irene Seifert by 13 points. In the next round, she faced an Austrian player. The match attracted considerable interest among the hosts because our player’s opponent was Simone Seitz, the reigning Austrian Racketlon champion. Both women were badminton players, so the match promised to be very interesting.

As a result, Polish champion Krystyna Szwajkowska comprehensively defeated Austria’s best player in all three disciplines: 21:11 in table tennis, 21:8 in badminton and 21:17 in squash. This allowed the Bolesławiec player to finish the match early and avoid playing tennis. In the match for a place in the final, Krystyna faced the 2005 world runner-up, Finland’s Susana Lautala Naykki. The match kept the spectators in suspense until the very end. Unfortunately, rather unluckily, after four disciplines the Finn ultimately won by only 2 points. Krystyna won table tennis 21:18 and badminton 21:12, while the Finn was better in squash, 11:21, and tennis, 17:21.

Szwajkowska fought Linda Janson of Sweden, the reigning World Champion, for third place. The Bolesławiec player fought bravely but ultimately lost by 19 points (23:21, 5:21, 21:6, 21:3). The entire tournament was unexpectedly won by Martina Kakosova of the Czech Republic, currently ranked sixth in the world.

Krzysztof Samonek made an excellent debut in the men’s singles. In the first round, he comfortably defeated Austria’s Manfred Kogler, and in the second round he beat the Czech player David Zablik decisively (21:6, 21:5, 21:13). On the second day of competition, Krzysztof faced Germany’s Paul Sachem, who won only narrowly in badminton, while losing the match decisively overall. After this victory, the Bolesławiec player prepared for a quarterfinal against the host representative, Lukas Gnauer. The match against Lukas also ended in a victory for Samonek, who at that point advanced to the “Austria Open” semifinals. On Sunday at 10:45 a.m., the semifinal between the Bolesławiec player and Austria’s Mario Gruber began. It was the most closely contested spectacle of the championship, as shown by the individual results: table tennis 26:24 for Krzysztof, badminton 30:28, squash 19:21 and tennis 21:17, also for Krzysztof.

After this exhausting but victorious match, Samonek advanced to the final. His opponent in the final was Germany’s Werner Seel. The match for gold proved to be a formality, ending after just three disciplines, in which Krzysztof won decisively and therefore did not need to play tennis. After six victories, the Bolesławiec player won a magnificent trophy and his first points toward the world ranking.

In his international debut, Krzysztof Samonek demonstrated a high level of skill and announced that he would compete in subsequent World Cup tournaments.

The performance of TOP Bolesławiec players at the “Austria Open” Tournament should be considered a success. The Austrian tournament was a competition for additional world-ranking points. The event attracted considerable interest because Austria had hosted the World Championships twice, in 2004 and 2005. The Bolesławiec players will compete for their next World Cup points at the Hungarian Championships, which will be held in Pécs at the end of February. We hope that our players will also perform well there.

(Information: RT/TOP Bolesławiec)