The international “Babolat Refrath Cup” had to be canceled in August. But this weekend, TV Refrath will catch up with the tournament in the Steinbreche – as a national event with players from 14 federal states.
The 8th international “BABOLAT Refrath Cup” for the three age groups U11, 13 and 15 was planned for mid-August, but unfortunately the German Badminton Association canceled the tournament for understandable reasons. A dozen nations would have liked to come to the Steinbreche and IGP halls like in previous years, but nothing came of it.
The fact that the tournament can now be rescheduled for the coming weekend (Friday to Sunday) is due to the fact that a German ranking tournament was not allowed to take place in Lower Saxony and the TV Refrath has now stepped in.
Heinz Kelzenberg: “We are pleased that there will be a” Refrath Cup “this year and that Babolat is also supporting us in organizing it as a national tournament”.
On Friday it starts with 32 mixed pairings U13, which will play out the winner until the final in the evening. On Saturday it will continue in the girls ‘singles and doubles, before the boys’ turn from 2 p.m. Here, too, the participant fields are comparatively small with 32 and 48 respectively.
On Sunday the little ones will start: 32 boys U11 and 16 girls play for honorary and material prizes. Spectators are unfortunately not allowed, the number of supervisors is limited, as hygiene rules are observed.
Kelzenberg emphasizes: “There is currently no mask requirement in the stands, but we will decide spontaneously to change this if the distances are not kept”.
A total of around 150 girls and boys from 77 clubs are registered. These come from 14 of the 16 German regional associations. Only from Saxony-Anhalt and Schleswig-Holstein were there no reports.
The numerically strongest clubs are the host TV Refrath with 17 and the 1st BC Beuel with 12 participants, followed by SV Berliner Brauereien (6) and MTV Nienburg (5). The organizer’s best players have top seeding places in all five U13 disciplines.
Gloria Poluektov starts in singles and doubles with Nina Steffes from first place, as she currently leads the German rankings. Nina Steffes is also in mixed position 1 with her partner Konstantin Kaprov from Trier.
With the boys, it is Fynn Ohliger who goes into the tournament from seed 2 or 3 in all three disciplines, and Maike Iffland and Kalliope Hermel are also hoping for top positions. With the youngest in the U11 age group, Tristan Theobald (born 2011) starts as the first year old from the very good 6th place.
With very few exceptions, all of the top players from Germany are at the start, as everyone’s still about improving their starting position for the upcoming German championships.
