Racketlon
 Balls used in racketlon |
|
| Highest governing body | Federation Internationale de Racketlon |
|---|---|
| First played | 1980s |
| Characteristics | |
| Contact | No |
| Team members | Single or doubles |
| Categorization | Racquet sport |
| Equipment | table tennis racket, celluloid, badminton racquet, shuttlecock, squash racquet, squash ball, tennis racquet, tennis ball |
| Olympic | none |
Racketlon is a racquet-sport cousin of the triathlon and decathlon. It combines the four most popular racquetsports in a single match (table tennis, badminton, squash and tennis).
By definition, the game must be built on the concept of a match involving the same two individuals (or pairs in doubles) playing each other in all four sports - with identically formatted sets being played in each sport. The player (or pair) who wins most rallies in total is the winner of the racketlon match. The sets are played in the following order (from smaller to larger rackets): table tennis, badminton, squash, tennis. Other than short official rules, each of the four sports' matches are governed by their respective international rules.
The sport originated in Finland. Billed as the world's fastest growing sport, in terms of numbers of official players, it has grown by 300% in the last three years, with almost 2000 ranked players from 48 countries.
The first official world championship took place in November 2001, and the World Tour, which takes place in 15 countries, is now in its tenth year (2011). In 2011 the singles world championship took place in Vienna 24–27 November and the teams and doubles world championships in Milan, 29 April–1 May.[citation needed]
[edit] References
- Czech Radio article about Racketlon (English text & audio)
- Nevada County Union newspaper article about Racketlon
