On the last double match day of the first half of the season in the 1st Badminton Bundesliga, SV Fun-Ball Dortelweil had to play away against their direct competitors from Bischmisheim (Saarbrücken) and Wipperfeld. Despite some loss of regular players, the Kurstadters were able to prevail with 5:2 and 4:3 and finish the first half of the season as autumn champions with 3 points each ahead of their pursuers.
Things didn’t look good against Saarbrücken at first, because the game started with a false start in the first men’s doubles and women’s doubles, both of which were lost. In the men’s doubles, Mads Vestergaard’s doubles partner, Daniel Lundgaard, injured his knee at the end of the second set. Despite winning the first two sets, sets 3-5 went to Saarbrücken. In the women’s doubles, Beiwen Zhang and Emma Moszczynski from the 2nd team played together for the first time due to the absences of Julie Macpherson and Debora Jille. Despite a good performance, they ultimately had to admit defeat in 4 sets. But the turning point came with the second men’s doubles with Alex Dunn and Simon Krax, who won with a strong performance in three sets. Jakob Houe won just as smoothly in the 2nd men’s singles and Beiwen Zhang won in 4 sets in the women’s singles. That turned the game around. In the mixed doubles, Mads Vestergaard and Emma Moszczynski continued the winning run with a convincing performance before Kian Yu Oei made the final score 5:2 in four sets in the first men’s singles.
On Sunday in Wipperfeld, Beiwen Zhang and Emma Moszczynski again had no chance in the women’s doubles. Due to Daniel Lundgaard’s injury, the doubles had to be rearranged. Mads Vestergaard and Jakob Houe played in the 2nd doubles and equalized 1-1 in 4 sets in what was at times a high-class match. In the first men’s doubles, Alex Dunn and Simon Krax unfortunately couldn’t maintain their great level from the day before and lost in 3 sets. Matthias Kicklitz also had no chance in the 1st men’s singles, meaning he was 1:3 behind. But the team showed morale again and started to catch up. In a real top game, Beiwen Zhang won in 4 sets in the women’s singles and Jakob Houe won in 3 sets in the 2nd men’s singles to make the score 3:3. The mixed doubles now had to make the decision. In a strong match, Mads Vestergaard and Emma Moszczynski lost the first two sets. But in the course of the 3rd set, both of them got better and better into the game and managed the unexpected turnaround to equalize the set at 2:2. In the 5th set it was a nail-biter that the Kurstadt team brought home 12:10 in extra time, thus perfecting the 4:3 victory.
“Despite the many failures, we saw an excellent performance and great morale from the entire team this weekend. That was very extraordinary. We were able to maintain our lead in the table with 3 points over Wipperfeld and Bischmisheim and are now going into the new year with this cushion as autumn champions,” said team manager Klaus Rotter.
