Final day at the German Badminton Championships in Cloppenburg (Lower Saxony) – with two debut winners and a now ten-time German champion.
“I’m happy that I have my title back,” says Yvonne Li (Dortelweil) with a grin on her face after winning the final against Miranda Wilson (Refrath/21-12, 21-16). The Hamburger is German champion in women’s singles for the seventh time – she won her first title in 2019. Last year she had to miss out due to injury, now Li is back at the top of the podium. And: It shouldn’t be their only title in Cloppenburg.
In the women’s doubles, Li triumphed alongside Isabel Lohau (Saarbrücken) – her second title in doubles, plus one in mixed doubles. So in total ten. Li says: “It’s a bit surreal. I’m just happy to play well year after year. And of course I’m always happy to win a German championship title.” And Lohau adds: “There will be more.”
An eventful year lies behind Lohau. She became a mother and made her comeback in the Bundesliga just six months later – now she is German champion again. She says: “The title is one of the most special ones I’ve won. I realized while I was pregnant that I wanted to go back again. I’m not finished yet – and now I’m on a little mission to show that competitive sports and being a mother are compatible. Crowning that with the title is huge.”
The women’s doubles final did not end as desired. Amelie Lehmann (Trittau) bent over in the second set when the score was 19-18; she and Selin Hübsch (Refrath) had to retire due to injury.
Debut champions in men’s doubles: Jonathan Dresp (Wittorf) and Simon Krax (Dortelweil) defeated Michael Fuchs and Marvin Seidel (both Saarbrücken) in two sets (21-13, 21-16) in the final. The duo entered the tournament seeded 5/8 and eliminated top seeds Bjarne Geiss and Jones Jansen in the quarterfinals on their way to the title. Krax said after the game: “It feels incredible that we won. Neither of us expected it. It’s a great feeling that we were able to show what we can do.”
In the mixed doubles, Marvin Seidel (Saarbrücken) and Thuc Nguyen (Wipperfeld) won their first joint DM title. And in a confident manner: 21-19, 21-7 against Simon Krax and Amelie Lehmann. Matthias Kicklitz (Dortelweil) secured his third title in the men’s singles. He clearly defeated Brian Holtschke (Refrath) in two sets (21-13, 21-15) – Kicklitz didn’t lose a single set in the entire tournament. The German champion said: “I felt very good throughout the days and am very happy about winning the tournament.”
Tournament director extremely satisfied
The 74th German Championships in Cloppenburg were not only an early highlight in the badminton year 2026 in terms of sport. The organizers also drew a positive conclusion after the end of the event: “This was a great tournament with a full hall on Saturday, enthusiastic spectators and a great atmosphere. We have gone one better here compared to last year. This was an all-round successful event here in Lower Saxony,” explains tournament director Markus Bennewitz and especially thanks the NBV and the many helpers of TV Cloppenburg.
