With two important victories against direct competitors, the Maintal badminton club takes a big step towards staying in the league in the 2nd league.
Maintal – “If someone had asked us after five or six games how the first half of the season would end, no one would have thought it possible that we would have a double-digit score,” said Wei Ming Hauschild, captain of the badminton second division team 1. BV Maintal, after the last weekend of competitive games in the 2025 calendar year. In fact, the blue-whites made a strong final spurt. In response to the autumn dreariness – zero points after six games – last year’s seventh-placed team scored significant points in each of the last five games. The cellar children BSV Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen and BC Offenburg each left the Maintalhalle, which was well filled for badminton standards with around 70 spectators, with a bitter 1:6 slap.
Hosts withstand the pressure
“We had the pressure to win,” reported Hauschild. “Those were two opponents that we had to leave behind in the end in the table. I’m proud of how we overcame that.” Two such clear victories, which gave the BVM three points twice – a suitable early Christmas present, so to speak – were not necessarily to be expected. The people of Maintal left no stone unturned for this mission. With Sofiia Lavrova, Nicolas Hoareau and Andrija Doder, all three “consistently strong” foreigners started. The result: The Hessians won all five singles and doubles matches involving at least one of the players.
The entire team plays well
“It wasn’t just our Legionnaires who delivered, everyone was really strong,” emphasized the captain, who particularly wanted to highlight the performance of a trio: “The way Matthias Fix, Jarno Deters and Dale Auchinleck pulled off such a performance in this pressure situation is really fantastic.” Fix won his doubles with Hoareau (3:2 in sets) and Hauschild (3:1). Due to the large Maintal squad at the weekend, the latter only played against the bottom team from Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen on Saturday and otherwise voluntarily withdrew to give others more playing time. Deters impressed again in his singles the following day (3:2) against the previously ninth-placed Offenburgers and Auchinleck also celebrated together with Doder in an encounter “on a knife’s edge” only after the fifth set.
Blue and white win all singles
The fact that only Auchinleck and Kristina Moßmann lost in the mixed doubles on Saturday and Moßmann and Alena Krax in the women’s doubles on Sunday became a side note because the Maintal team continued their impressive series. As in the three previous second division games, the blue-whites once again won all the individual matches – “madness”, as Hauschild called it. All the positive findings from the weekend also ensured a good mood in the stands until well after the final whistle. “The atmosphere was outstanding, there was a lot going on. Also at the Christmas party on Saturday evening – the icing on the cake on a fantastic weekend,” the 35-year-old looked back happily.
Big fan support is an advantage
Hauschild described the audience response as an advantage over the other clubs in the region. Also thanks to the support of the audience, the Maintal team managed to score points five to ten for the season. The team of the hour climbed past TV Marktheidenfeld and BC Offenburg in the table and is now in ninth place, two points ahead of the relegation zone. “That’s how you like to go into the break. We now have a good starting position for the second half of the season and are prepared,” said the BVM leader and concluded with the following words: “Christmas can come.”
