The sport of racketlon returned to Jesmond this month for the biggest Northumberland Open to date, with representatives of the British team among those battling it out across a quartet of disciplines.

One of the newest sports in the world, racketlon combines four racket sports in one event, so competitors faced the same opponent at table tennis and badminton in the Northumberland Club’s sports hall before meeting again on one of five squash courts available and a final tennis match outside.

By combining the sports – each of which is played to 21 points – competitors are required to use a combination of “intricacy, mental pressure and tactics” according to the official UK Racketlon website.

Organiser and competitor Kieran Shelley believes that racketlon requires more resilience than other sports. “It’s the combination mentally, it’s very different. When you’re moving from one sport to another your mental fitness as much as your physical fitness is important because you’ll find that most racketlon matches are longer than your average table tennis and badminton matches. They’re almost as long as your average tennis match but usually at a higher intensity.”

Shelley also believes that the sport has a lot of potential to grow globally.

“Many people hear about it and say that they’d like to give that a go but they feel really naive or scared to start just because they don’t play two or three of the four sports. So that’s why I think participation is low, However, the sport is only 20 years old, which is when the first world championships were held, and it’s gaining a global brand. Having competitions on a global scale is something we need to work on.”

The competition was held in a friendly but competitive atmosphere – demonstrated by the number of British team representatives present and their high standard of ability. The Northumberland Open now attracts players from all over the UK, including from Kent, Nottingham, and Cumbria. Each individual sport takes between 15-20 minutes and is officiated by the players rather than by an independent umpire or referee.

Competitor Ryan Bezer is currently ranked fourth in the U21 section in the UK and 52^nd in the male rankings. A full-time student at Sheffield Hallam University, the 20-year old says he enjoys the combination of physical and mental fitness that is required to succeed.

“It’s worked out quite nicely because I originally played county tennis and also badminton from a young age and I’ve just started having squash lessons. At the moment I’ll go to the gym three or four times a week and play squash twice a week.

“When I was younger, I would come to tournaments with a notebook, so I’d know what I’d expect to get off each person in each category, and I’d play based off that. But now I play for every point, so it becomes irrelevant.”

So far, racketlon has no professional players, but world championships are held annually and the sport is seeing a rise in popularity in India, Thailand and other areas of Asia. UK Racketlon’s next open competition will be the 13th  Hertfordshire Open at Letchworth Garden City on 30 October.