The first AirBadminton World Championships in Sharjah came to an end with the team competition. Against the atmospheric backdrop of Khorfakkan Beach, the hosts from the United Arab Emirates were crowned the first world champions in the team event after a close final against China. Germany ended up in 5th place.
Germany started the group stage in a group of three with Australia and Indonesia. At the start, the German selection met Australia and showed a convincing performance. In all four sub-disciplines – men’s doubles, men’s triples, women’s doubles and women’s triples – Germany retained the upper hand and ultimately prevailed with a clear score of 60:35.
In the evening it was all about the important group win against Indonesia. Germany got off to a strong start in the men’s doubles with David Kramer and Fabian Hippold and took a clear lead. However, Indonesia got better and better into the game as the game progressed, reduced the deficit in the men’s triples and turned the overall result in its favor in the women’s doubles. In the final women’s triple with Fabienne Deprez, Annalena Diks and Julia Meyer, the German team initially managed to catch up. However, after the last break, Indonesia was able to improve again and ultimately won the match by a narrow margin of 60:56.
Germany therefore moved into the quarter-finals as second in the group. China, one of the strongest teams in the tournament, was waiting there. The German team found it difficult to get into the game under very windy conditions, while the Chinese adapted much better to the external conditions. China prevailed in all four disciplines, Germany ultimately had to admit defeat 29:60.
Team manager Thomas Fuchs nevertheless drew a positive conclusion about the World Cup premiere:
“It was a great experience for the whole team to be part of the premiere world championship in this new sport. AirBadminton is a completely different game than the indoor badminton we are used to. Many of the other nations have been training outdoors for months – you could see that in the quality.”
Fuchs also highlighted the special atmosphere:
“In the stream, AirBadminton may seem a bit undynamic or chaotic, but live it is extremely intense and thrilling. The final games in the local stadium in particular were an absolute highlight. We therefore also want to focus on the implementation of national events in Germany and draw inspiration from beach volleyball, for example.”
This marks the end of an eventful first AirBadminton World Championship for Team Germany, which provided valuable insights and important impulses for the further development of this young discipline.
