Mixed day for Jordan in multi-sport event
Published: 10:05, 04 June 2008
Ray Jordan made up for the disappointment of a first round exit in the singles competition at the Belgian Racketlon Open by storming to the final of the men's doubles.
The gruelling multi-sport event's new British number one and his partner James Greenhead swept aside the top-seeded German pair of Oli Zwiers and Alex Koepf in Oudenaarde on Saturday before losing a classic match with Dutch duo Paul Twisterling and professional tennis player Bart Beks by a single point in Sunday's final.
Jordan and Greehead ousted the world's leading duo in the last-four courtesy of a 21-18 win in table tennis followed by a superb 21-19 victory at badminton.
In the squash Greenhead incredibly turned around an 11-4 deficit at the change-around to win 21-17.
The results left them needing just 13 points to secure victory in the tennis but they were forced to endure some nervy moments against the German tennis specialists who won 18 points before Jordan and Greenhead reached their target to secure their biggest scalp in only their second competition as doubles partners.
In the final the Brits opened up a big lead before the tennis, with the Folkestone man's superb table tennis helping them to a 21-3 advantage after the first sport.
They lost the badminton in extra points 22-20 and another marathon set ensued in the squash which finished 28-26 to the Netherlands duo.
The English pair needed just seven points at tennis to force a sudden-death 'gummy-arm' - a tension-laden winner-takes-all point with no second serve permitted - or eight to win.
However they were facing ATP Tour player Beks who has been ranked inside the world's top 600 in singles and is currently 244th in the world at doubles.
The Brits put up a brave fight against the blistering ground-strokes of the clay court specialist but despite some gutsy shots and a big Jordan serve which Beks could only dump into the net, the Dutch pair secured victory by a single point, winning 21-6.
In the elite class singles Jordan went down narrowly to Belgian badminton specialist Lieven Plouy and lost in the first round of the plate competition to Swede Mika Hasmats, eventually finishing 21st in the 24-man class.
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KentOnline reporter