2023 Commercial Club Australian Racquetball Championships

The Commercial Club Australian Racquetball Open was conducted on Saturday 7^th October (singles) and Sunday 8^th October (doubles), held at the Commercial Club, Albury and the Wodonga Squash and Racquetball Complex. Numbers were well down on 2022, with 100 singles (120 last year) and 74 doubles entries (110 last year). No real explanation why, although numbers were well down in the lower grades and Juniors, but about the same for Open to C Grade.  But the big positive was the extremely strong Men’s and Women Open Singles fields, which made for some spectacular, quality Racquetball matches and drew large spectator galleries on the Saturday. 

The Men’s Open was won by Cam White over the very strong newcomer, Sam Ejtemai, which was a well anticipated match.  But White came out meaning  business  and never gave Ejtemai a look in, to win fairly easily. This was Cam’s historic 20^th Australian Open title since he first won in 2001.  The Women’s Open was won by another newcomer to racquetball, Selena Shaikh over the very strong Amelia Martin.  Shaikh showed her game was very well suited to the bouncier ball and in the end she proved too fit and fast for Martin. She also announced that at the presentation that she really enjoyed the tournament and was a convert, so we hope to see much more of her in the future.  The Open doubles was won by Cam White and Gus Bell, in a repeat of last year’s event.  On the Saturday night, the Commercial Club hosted the presentation dinner, with the usual quality meals.  Winners of the President Choice Junior awards were Amelia Brigden (Girls) and Nelson Howard (Boys), both who have been very strong supporters of the tournament circuit over the past couple of years.  When we came to presentation of the Paul Vear Marquee Player Award, my fellow voters completely blindsided me by awarding it to me (Shane Skidmore).   I am very honoured to receive this and intend to donate the $500 back to a Junior 2024 racquetball program.    At the presentation end, Ross Falconer announced this was his last year as Tournament Director.  Ross has been a powerhouse in organising firstly the NSW Open in 2015, then winning the tender for the Australian Open in 2016 and has been successful in lobbying sponsors and organizing locals to make this a truly great tournament. He also announced that Sarah Quinlivan would be taking over his role.