From the magazine
New Goan Racket Champion
Indian badminton star, PV Sindhu’s recent historic Silver medal at the Rio Olympic Games has got us all rushing to the sports shop to pick up a racket. But did you know that a Goan also brought laurels to the country with his racket recently. No we are not talking about Leander Paes, but a man who excelled in racketlon.
Before you question whether 'Racketlon' is even a sport, I would like to add that LON gives it away as Racketlon is considered the decathlon of racket events. It combines sets being played of table tennis, badminton, squash and tennis.
Prior to Rio Olympics kicking off, Indian Navy commodore Ashutosh Pednekar became the first Indian to win an International competition in 'racketlon'. Commodore Ashutosh hails from Panjim! His achievement in the tournament did not create much buzz. But, we can definitely appreciate his great effort in this very complex sport, as it requires extreme agility and stamina.
During his formative years, Ashutosh was a rising star in the field of badminton, representing Goa State at sub junior and senior level between 1982 and 1994. Ashutosh who is know posted in Delhi, has no doubt gone on to do the state and country proud in more ways than one.
“Badminton is something I picked up during school in Panaji. However I could never be national champion in the game due to several reasons including the lack of competition in Goa at that time. Thus there was always a sense of unfulfilled dreams of achieving something for the state and the country,” remarked Ashutosh.
Main rules of racketlon:
- You can play the game as singles or doubles
- One set is played of each sport, starting with the smallest racket sport
- The sets are played until 21 points. Two points margin is needed to win a set
- Each player has two serves at a time. One from the right and one from the left (except table tennis)
- The winner is the one who accumulates the most points overall
- If the game is tied, one last rally is played in tennis to decide the winner (gummiarm)
- All other rules from the respected sports apply to the matches
Racketlon sounds like a lot of fun. What do you think? Will you give it a try? Let us know in the comments below.
