Mülheim / Lahti.
Finally another tournament. The relief for the badminton offspring was great. Four Mülheimers played at the U19 European Championship in Finland.
In the middle of November lockdown, which among other things shut down the entire amateur sport,
four badminton talents from Mülheim traveled to Finland for the U19 European Championships
.
From
1. BV Mülheim
belonged
Aaron Sunshine, Jarne Schlevoigt
and
Julia Meyer
to the squad of the German selection, from
VfB Grün-Weiß Mülheim
war
Malik Bourakkadi
nominated to the 14-player team. The team missed the targeted medal in the team classification – the quarterfinals were the final destination.
Big effort – but the Mülheimers were safe in the bubble
To allow such a large, international event to take place in these difficult times was associated with a great deal of effort, as Jonathan Rathke, team manager at 1. BV Mülheim explains.
“The players were completely sealed off like in a bubble,” said Rathke.
He had no concerns about it.
“I almost think nowhere would have been safer than there”
says Rathke with a view to the measures taken by the organizers. Because the entire German delegation had to be tested for the coronavirus with a so-called PCR test before leaving.
72 hours of isolation for the team upon arrival
After arriving in Lahti, the team went straight to
Put in isolation for 72 hours
. The four Mülheimers and the rest of the troop were housed on the grounds of the Olympic Training Center in their own house,
they were only allowed out of their rooms for exercise and meals
. There was a prescribed time of 25 to 30 minutes for each meal because all teams were supposed to come into the dining room one after the other and disinfecting had to be carried out between the different groups.
A second negative test was the prerequisite for entering the
Opening game against Finland
to be allowed to go. As hosts, the Finns did not have to be in isolation, but could not – as feared – take advantage of it.
In the end, the German selection clearly won 4: 1
.
Mülheimer lays the foundation for the opening victory
This laid the foundation for success
Aaron Sunshine
who immediately entered the tournament with a strong performance. Against the
Finnish rival Joakim Oldorff
At the end it was 21:12, 16:21 and 21:18 for the Mülheimer. Also
Bourakkadi
convinced at the side of Matthias Kicklitz in doubles with a sovereign two-set win (21:13, 21:17).
The next, never endangered
5-0 win against the defeated Faroe Islands
could then also the mixed Mülheim doubles
Jarne Schlevoigt and Julia Meyer
Contribute points. They won clearly with 21: 9 and 21:13.
Mixed doubles in the quarterfinals – team loses to Russia
At the
subsequent individual competition
The two made it to the quarter-finals
, they won against the doubles from Austria (21:16, 19:21, 21:10) and Portugal (19:21, 18:21) and then eliminated against Ukraine (16:21, 16:21). For both of them it was still a good result,
because both are only 17 years old and could actually compete in the younger age group.
More articles about badminton in Mülheim:
In the team classification, the DBV team trained by Dirk Nötzel qualified despite a narrow defeat against strong Danes
as group runner-up for the round of the last eight teams
. Here, however, the young German talents lost out to Russia and lost 1: 3.
Two defeats for Aaron Sunshine
“That we then had to play directly against the co-favorites Russia was a bit of a loss,” said Rathke. Because in the standard situations – especially in the men’s doubles as well as in the mixed doubles – these were quicker to act,
so that Sonnenschein suffered significant defeats first with Leona Michalski and then with Matthias Kicklitz
(15:21, 12:21 and 16:21, 12:21).
The team has that
declared goal medal not achieved
, but everyone involved was happy to be able to take part in a tournament again and a
“To some extent everyday badminton”
to find out, as Rathke says.
Mixed doubles win the gold medal
The mixed doubles ensured the greatest success of the German delegation
Matthias Kicklitz / Thuc Phuong Nguyen
who prevailed in the final against the Swedish duo Gustav Björkler / Edith Urell with 21:19 and 21:19 and thus secured the title.
At 1. BV Mülheim, training and games are now still at a standstill. For Sonnenschein, Schlevoigt and Meyer, at least the training continues at the base.
More current sports news from Mülheim:
All current pictures and articles about sport in Mülheim can be found here
[In unserem Lokalsport-Newsletter halten wir Sie nach jedem Wochenende auf dem Laufenden. Den Lokalsport-Newsletter können Sie hier kostenlos bestellen.]
.
