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| Monday, 01 June 2009 17:44 |
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Jennings shows Badminton and Tennis class in Nottingham Open Victory Click here The 2nd Nottingham Open Racketlon was a great success with glorious weather for the outdoor tennis. After his first round win against squash specialist, Rossin, it was obvious that Jennings would be difficult to beat. His badminton is as good as anyone's on the tour and his tennis is also decent. Granville, who beat Hopwood in the first round, was Jennings' next victim. Denny beat Hartley in the other semi final. In the final the TT was a walk over for Denny and the Badminton likewise for Jennings. In the end Jennings' tennis was too strong and he took the £100 1st place prize money with a look of surprise - he hadn't realised there was prize money. In the B, Kneller was triumphant ( his 2nd B event tour win), beating Thomson in the final. The C winner was Muldoon. In the D event final Passi and Jennings (the brother of the A winner) had the best quality badminton game of the whole competition. Passi was the winner and, i think it's fair to say, would do well in A or B events in the future. The ladies, Cook and Whttington, were not out-classed in the D, finishing 4th and 7th. The author suggests that Jennings, Denny and Hartley could all be in the English top 10 soon. Other highlights for the big 3 in their short racketlon careers include: Denny - 2 Tour tournaments. A win over Neil Smith (who proved reputable at the British Open pushing Simon Whale all the way). Smith also combined with James Bird to defeat the Manners father / son combination in the British Open doubles final. Denny needed to beat Jermaine Manners in the British Open last 16, 21-9 in tennis and was winning at the halfway stage, alas a few points off, Denny is dangerous. One of the only players on the tour who can push the likes of Jordan, Lesser, Hobden and Granville at table tennis which they tend to dominate. Hartley - A recent win over Jermaine Manners made Hartley the bookies favourite for the event. Displaying sublime squash and tennis skills, Hartley is a bad profile for the TT & Badminton specialists amongst us. Hartley struggled with Whale and Jennings as these lads are badminton specialists and can play a bit of tennis too! Not to mention squash and table tennis but nowhere near to the level of their top two. Jennings - Played a massive 5 21-up matches in one day at the recent British Open. These consisted of beatings for squash specialist Alex Phillips, newly ranked British number two Keith Lesser and table tennis and tennis expert Stuart Hobden. Jennings lost out ot Bird, with Bird surprising Jennings with a vital 21-10 table tennis win. I'd struggle to think if Bird would lose to anyone in the world at racketlon after winning the table tennis 21-10, perhaps one or two but not many! Jennings was therefore always in trouble. If Jennings can reverse the TT score, he would have a good shout next time the two meet. Jennings finished 4th in the British Open also losing out to Simon Whale's fighting spirit, however the 5th match of the day is always going to be tough. The racketlon junkies are already talking about a Manners v Jennings encounter with Jennings the favourite in badminton, one would think Manners may not have this tie all his own way. Time will tell. |