World Ring Tennis Championships 2006

The ring tennis world cup.

The 1st Ring Tennis World Championships 2006 took place from November 6th to 10th, 2006 in Chennai (India) and were organized by the World Tenniquoits Federation (WTF for short). The host was the Tennikoit Federation of India . The tournament consisted of a single World Championship for women and men, the Team World Championship and an (unofficial) double World Championship for women and men, which were officially organized as exhibition matches . The event was broadcast live on Indian television for four days for a total of 32 hours.

Venue

The Nadia Comaneci Indoor Stadium.

The venue for the first ring tennis world championship was the Nadia Comăneci Indoor Stadium on the premises of the Velammal International School in Ponneri , a suburb of Chennai , which is about 40 km outside. The Velammal International School is an institution of the Velammal Educational Trust . The chairman of this organization is MV Muthuramalingam.

In the Nadia Comaneci Indoor Stadium, six playing fields were prepared, one of which was the Center Court. The live television broadcasts were made from this Center Court. Unfortunately, there are no official attendance figures, but the Indian side said there were up to 5000 spectators. Before the decisive team meeting between Germany and South Africa, three playing fields were even dismantled to make room for additional chairs.

Participating Nations

Six nations took part in the first world championship in ring tennis.

• Bangladesh
• Brazil
• Germany
• India
• Pakistan
• South Africa

Two members of the WTF did not take part in the World Cup.

• Nepal
• New Zealand

Membership in the World Tenniquoits Federation is a prerequisite for participating in a world championship in ring tennis . Each member nation may register a team of 5 women and 5 men for the team world championships and 4 women and 4 men for the individual world championships. Three of the four players who start at the individual World Cup must also be a member of the team. I.e. a player who only starts in the individual World Cup is the sixth member of the team and thus a reserve player. The maximum size of the entire team is therefore limited to 12 players.

German team

The German national ring tennis team at the opening ceremony for the 2006 World Cup.

The German World Cup team was nominated by national coach Mario Müller from Hamburg on April 30, 2006 as part of the crown tournament in Siegen and looked like this:

Ladies	society	International appearances before World Cup
Sabrina Westphal	Post-SG Mannheim	7th
Nicole Schellert	TV Heddesdorf	0
Melanie Böttcher	Post-SG Mannheim	0
Vera Vollhase	SG Suderwich	0
Sarah Kissinger	FSG Koblenz-Bad Ems	2
Silke von Aschwege	Post-SG Mannheim	8th

Men's	society	International appearances before World Cup
Christian Herzog	ESG Frankonia Karlsruhe	12
Dominic Schubardt	Post-SG Mannheim	4th
Timo Hufnagel	TV Pforzheim	4th
Maximilian Speicher	VfL Wehbach	0
Ansgar Kutscha	Post-SG Mannheim	6th
Gunther Kaiser	Post-SG Mannheim	0

competition

Individual World Cup men

Individual World Cup in front of a large backdrop.

The men's individual World Championship was won, very unexpectedly, by the German Dominic Schubardt , who defeated the top seeded South African Gerrie Craig in the semifinals and then prevailed against his teammate Timo Hufnagel in the final . In total there was a starting field of 20 players, the winner was determined in knockout mode.

Preliminary round
Mehmood Tariq	Maximilian Speicher	3: 38
Hanno Pienaar	Rahul	43:29
Milon Mosaruf Hossain	Parviz Zeeshan	42: 41
Md. Jahangir Hossain	Bertus le Roux	9:72
Round of 16
Gerrie Craig	Maximilian Speicher	47: 37
Salim Ahmmed Shayan	RM Balaji	28:70
Dominic Schubardt	Abdul Qavvum	66: 30
Hanno Pienaar	Syed Nuruzzaman	55:23
V. Jesudoss	Milon Mosaruf Hossain	82: 9
Timo Hufnagel	Judge van Tonder	49:38
Ali Mukarram	B. Murali	0:20
Bertus le Roux	Christian Herzog	36:47
Quarter finals
Gerrie Craig	RM Balaji	50:37
Dominic Schubardt	Hanno Pienaar	42: 31
V. Jesudoss	Timo Hufnagel	44:52
B. Murali	Christian Herzog	35:42
Semifinals
Gerrie Craig	Dominic Schubardt	35:54
Timo Hufnagel	Christian Herzog	28:23
3rd place match
Gerrie Craig	Christian Herzog	38:48
final
Dominic Schubardt	Timo Hufnagel	42:36

Final ranking

1.	Dominic Schubardt			11.	Maximilian Speicher
2.	Timo Hufnagel			12.	Milon Mosaruf Hossain
3.	Christian Herzog			13.	Abdul Qavvum
4th	Gerrie Craig			14th	Syed Nuruzzaman
5.	Hanno Pienaar			15th	Salim Ahmmed Shayan
6th	V. Jesudoss			16.	Ali Mukarram
7th	RM Balaji			17th	Rahul
8th.	B. Murali			18th	Mehmood Tariq
9.	Bertus le Roux			19th	Md. Jahangir Hossain
10.	Judge van Tonder			20th	Parviz Zeeshan

Individual World Cup women

Game scene from the women's singles.

At the women's individual World Cup, after a purely German semi-final, the German number 1, Sabrina Westphal , prevailed as expected in the final against the only 18-year-old Nicole Schellert . The top seeded Indian K. Narayanamma was eliminated in the second round against the later fourth Vera Vollhase . In total there was a starting field of 18 players, the winner was determined in knockout mode.

Preliminary round
Nisha Prakash	Miriam Hartman	23:39
Rezina Lais Honey	Sameera Begum	3:65
Round of 16
K. Narayanamma	Vera Vollhase	18:24
Jamila Khatun Jhinuk	Heleen Potgieter	5:58
Nicole Schellert	Marilu Pekelman	55: 17
Miriam Hartman	Rasheda Akhter	41: 12
Marshana Pienaar	Aparecida P. Killingsworth	63: 18
Melanie Böttcher	Sujita	49:20
Viviane Pekelman	Michelle Kokott	24:57
Sameera Begum	Sabrina Westphal	35:50
Quarter finals
Vera Vollhase	Heleen Potgieter	53:40
Nicole Schellert	Miriam Hartman	38:36
Marshana Pienaar	Melanie Böttcher	35:47
Michelle Kokott	Sabrina Westphal	27:50
Semifinals
Vera Vollhase	Nicole Schellert	20:30
Melanie Böttcher	Sabrina Westphal	23:44
3rd place match
Vera Vollhase	Melanie Böttcher	17:24
final
Nicole Schellert	Sabrina Westphal	27:46

Final ranking

1.	Sabrina Westphal			10.	Sujita
2.	Nicole Schellert			11.	Sameera Begum
3.	Melanie Böttcher			12.	Viviane Pekelman
4th	Vera Vollhase			13.	Aparecida P. Killingsworth
5.	Heleen Potgieter			14th	Marilu Pekelman
6th	Marshana Pienaar			15th	Rasheda Akhter
7th	Miriam Hartman			16.	Jamila Khatun Jhinuk
8th.	Michelle Kokott			17th	Nisha Prakash
9.	K. Narayanamma			18th	Rezina Lais Honey

Double competitions

Game scene from the men's doubles.

The doubles competitions were officially organized as exhibition matches in order to be able to present additional attractive games to the television viewers, but are also viewed as unofficial doubles world championships. As in the individual competitions, the German team dominated the event. Nicole Schellert and Silke von Aschwege won the women ahead of Vera Vollhase and Melanie Böttcher , while Dominic Schubardt and Maximilian Speicher beat the favored South African doubles Gerrie Craig and Bertus le Roux in the final .

Final ranking women
1.	Nicole Schellert / Silke von Aschwege
2.	Vera Vollhase / Melanie Böttcher
3.	Sabrina Westphal / Sarah Kissinger
4th	Felicia Sauer / Miriam Hartman
5.	Heleen Potgieter / Marshana Pienaar
6th	Rathi Priya / Renuka
7th	Michelle Kokott / Elsie Dreyer
8th.	Sameera Begum / K. Narayanamma
9.	Swapna / Nisha Prakash
Final ranking men
1.	Dominic Schubardt / Maximilian Speicher
2.	Gerrie Craig / Bertus le Roux
3.	Christian Herzog / Ansgar Kutscha
4th	Timo Hufnagel / Gunther Kaiser
5.	Hanno Pienaar / Neels Myburgh
6th	Richter van Tonder / Hein van der Lith
7th	Lakshman Rao / B. Murali
8th.	RM Balaji / M. Raju
9.	V. Jesudoss / G. Narayanan Surya

Team World Cup

Game scene from the decisive encounter between Germany and South Africa.

The victorious German national ring tennis team.

At the Team World Cup, the teams from Bangladesh, Brazil and Pakistan started out of competition because they were unable to put together a complete team of at least four women and four men that was necessary for official participation. The Bangladesh team only had three women available because one player was canceled at short notice, while Brazil provided an all-women team and Pakistan an all-men team. Thus only India, South Africa and Germany remained in the official ranking, which the German team won in a convincing manner. The winner of the team world championship was determined in the mode everyone against everyone.

A national team meeting consists of 2 women and men individually (DE, HE), 2 mixed doubles (Mix) and 2 women and men doubles (DD, HD).

Germany	Brazil	6-0
Germany	Pakistan	8-0
Germany	India	18: 2
Brazil	Bangladesh	4: 2
Germany	Bangladesh	18: 0
India	Pakistan	8-0
India	Bangladesh	18: 0
South Africa	Bangladesh	18: 0
South Africa	Brazil	6-0
South Africa	Pakistan	8-0
South Africa	India	14: 6
Germany	South Africa	16: 4
India	Brazil	6-0
Pakistan	Bangladesh	4: 4

India versus Germany

The encounter between Germany and India turned out to be clearer than expected. The Indian team had improved compared to the games of the individual World Cup, but only Sameera Begum was able to win in the second women's singles against vice world champion Nicole Schellert and thus ensured the only Indian point win of the game. Still, it was no walk in the park for the German team, as some games were more competitive than the result suggests.

	India	Germany
HE1	V. Jesudoss	Christian Herzog	33:45	0: 2
DE1	K. Narayanamma	Vera Vollhase	22:28	0: 2
HE2	RM Balaji	Timo Hufnagel	42:53	0: 2
DE2	Sameera Begum	Nicole Schellert	39:34	2-0
Mix1	K. Narayanamma / B. Murali	Silke von Aschwege / Christian Herzog	31:38	0: 2
Mix2	Swapna / V. Jesudoss	Sabrina Westphal / Ansgar Kutscha	29:35	0: 2
HD1	RM Balaji / G. Narayanan Surya	Maximilian Speicher / Dominic Schubardt	35:53	0: 2
DD1	Sameera Begum / Sujita	Vera Vollhase / Melanie Böttcher	28:32	0: 2
HD2	V. Jesudoss / B. Murali	Timo Hufnagel / Christian Herzog	39:48	0: 2
DD2	Swapna / K. Narayanamma	Sabrina Westphal / Nicole Schellert	32:42	0: 2
			330: 408	2:18

India versus South Africa

Even against the winner of the Triangular Championships 2004, South Africa, the Indians were powerless in the end, although they played strong and scored four points more than against Germany. Particularly noteworthy is the victory of K. Narayanamma against Michelle Kokott , who was second at the 2004 International Masters in Durban . Hein van der Lith was narrowly defeated by his Indian opponents both in mixed with Elsie Dreyer and in doubles with Hanno Pienaar . Otherwise, the South African team played out its routine and won the victory against India safely.

	India	South Africa
HE1	Lakshman Rao	Gerrie Craig	33:44	0: 2
DE1	K. Narayanamma	Michelle Kokott	39:15	2-0
HE2	RM Balaji	Bertus le Roux	31:49	0: 2
DE2	Sameera Begum	Marshana Pienaar	28:50	0: 2
Mix1	Swapna / Lakshman Rao	Elsie Dreyer / Hein van der Lith	40:39	2-0
Mix2	K. Narayanamma / B. Murali	Felicia Sauer / Neels Myburgh	29:35	0: 2
HD1	RM Balaji / G. Narayanan Surya	Gerrie Craig / Bertus le Roux	33:63	0: 2
DD1	Swapna / K. Narayanamma	Heleen Potgieter / Marshana Pienaar	32:43	0: 2
HD2	Lakshman Rao / V. Jesudoss	Hanno Pienaar / Hein van der Lith	46:43	2-0
DD2	Sameera Begum / Sujita	Michelle Kokott / Elsie Dreyer	20:22	0: 2
			331: 403	6:14

Germany versus South Africa

Due to the big win against India, the German team against South Africa was enough to win the title. In the first two rounds all four singles went to Germany, which meant an 8-0 lead. Both mixed were now won by South Africa, so the decision had to fall in the doubles. Here everything was clear after the first lap; the German team had the title in their pockets thanks to the 12: 4 intermediate result. Despite the joy of winning, the last two doubles went to Germany with one point difference each.

	Germany	South Africa
HE1	Dominic Schubardt	Hanno Pienaar	33:21	2-0
DE1	Vera Vollhase	Marshana Pienaar	46:30	2-0
HE2	Timo Hufnagel	Judge van Tonder	50:38	2-0
DE2	Sabrina Westphal	Miriam Hartman	58:30	2-0
Mix1	Silke von Aschwege / Christian Herzog	Miriam Hartman / Bertus le Roux	28:44	0: 2
Mix2	Sabrina Westphal / Ansgar Kutscha	Heleen Potgieter / Gerrie Craig	23:37	0: 2
HD1	Maximilian Speicher / Dominic Schubardt	Hein van der Lith / Richter van Tonder	50:38	2-0
DD1	Vera Vollhase / Melanie Böttcher	Elsie Dreyer / Michelle Kokott	29:13	2-0
HD2	Timo Hufnagel / Christian Herzog	Gerrie Craig / Bertus le Roux	42:41	2-0
DD2	Sabrina Westphal / Nicole Schellert	Heleen Potgieter / Marshana Pienaar	31:30	2-0
			390: 322	16: 4

Final ranking

1.	Germany		4: 0 pts.	34: 6 games
2.	South Africa		2: 2 pts.	18:22 games
3.	India		0: 4 pts.	8:32 games

Medal table

country
Germany	5	3	4th
South Africa	0	2	0
India	0	0	1

Trivia

Poster advertising for the 2006 World Championship in Chennai.

• The 2006 World Ring Tennis Championships were opened by the Minister for Communication and IT of the State of Tamil Nadu , M. Krishnassamy.
• The organizers, the Tennikoit Federation of India and the Velammal International School, managed to win well-known sponsors such as LG and the Indian daily newspaper Deccan Chronicle for the World Cup.
• Before this first World Championships in Ring Tennis, there had already been two unofficial individual World Championships, called International Masters. In 2002, Wilna van der Merwe (South Africa) and Reinhard Plog (Germany) won in Leipzig , in 2004 Melanie Grieb (South Africa) and Gerrie Craig (South Africa) won in Durban .
• Germany's 16: 4 against South Africa was the first victory of a German national team against opponents from the Cape of Good Hope since 1992 (21: 7 at the time).

See also

• Ring tennis
• International Masters (ring tennis) 2002
• International Masters (ring tennis) 2004

Web links

Commons : Ring Tennis World Cup 2006  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• http://www.worldtenniquoit.org - The official website of the World Tenniquoits Federation.
• http://www.rzuser.uni-heidelberg.de/~bx6/psg/ringtennis - Website of the Post-SG Mannheim with the World Cup diary of the German delegation.
• http://www.chrisses-ringtennis.de - Christian Herzog's website with a World Cup story.
• http://www.tenniquoits.com - website of the Indian organizers.