Dessau-Rosslau –
In December, the Anhalt Arena in Dessau will host a top-class qualifying tournament for the European Badminton Team Championships in 2021. The German team will have to fight for only one qualifying place with the selection teams from the Isle of Man, Slovenia and strong Bulgaria.
Dessau will see a total of six international badminton matches over three days
In a three-day tournament, which will take place from December 10th to 12th, the game will be played in “everyone against everyone”. The audience will see six international matches, each with five games in three days. Only the winner will take part in the European Team Championship in Finland in 2021.
According to the decision of the continental association “Badminton Europe”, only eight teams have been allowed to participate in the final round since 2019, only the defending champions (Denmark won the title in 2019) and the host (Finland) are automatically eligible to start. The six missing teams have to win the ticket in the qualifying tournament. Germany, the reigning vice European champion, has received home rights for one of these qualifying tournaments due to its good position in the world rankings.
The association awarded this European Championship qualification to the host community Anhalt Sport from Dessau with sports director Ralph Hirsch and Heinz Bußmann from the sports marketing agency AEP from Delmenhorst in Lower Saxony. Bußmann, who has already organized 116 international badminton matches and various tournaments in this sport, is one of the most experienced badminton organizers in Europe. Hirsch and Bußmann have already worked together successfully at the four international matches so far in the Anhalt Arena.
1,000 tickets are on offer for the international badminton matches
Against China seven years ago, with over 3,000 spectators, a record for badminton international matches in Germany was reported. This number will not be reached in December: Due to the corona problem, only around 1000 cards can be handed in on all three tournament days in December. A complex hygiene concept was developed for this purpose.
The top favorites to win the group should be Bulgaria, which can be assessed as very strong, and hosts Germany. The game plan given by “Badminton Europe” provides that the favorites will only meet on the last match day, Saturday. (mz)
