Last Saturday we played a friendly match in and against Belgium. In a sold out Arena Hall in Deurne near Antwerp about 1200 enthousiastic badminton fans witnessed an exciting encounter. The Dutch won, 2 to 3!
In the afternoon we had already sharpened our focus with a round of laser gaming. It is always nice to bring back your childhood and everybody was shooting like crazy. I, myself obviously shot with blanks because I finished the game on the fifth place. But that couldn’t spoil the fun. In fact after 15 minutes of wandering around in this cellar I could have used some oxygen. Such a game is pretty intensive! Anyway it was a great warming up.
We arrived at the venue hours before the start of the match. We explored and tried the courts and had an early dinner. About an hour before the start of the event there was already a long queue waiting to get in and find a good seat.
One thing is for sure the Belgians know how to organise an event! Rousing music, a light show and a street dancing act were warming up the spectators.
After the presentation of the teams and the national anthems we could finally start with the first match at 7.30 pm. Selena Piek and I met Freek Golinski and SĂ©verine Corvilain in the mixed double. In the first game we needed some time to find the right rhythm but we still won this game 21 – 18. In the second game we were tuned and we accelerated, 21 – 7.
Both singles were won by Belgium. Brother and sister Tan defeated respectively Eric Pang and Patty Stolzenbach and quite unexpectedly we were facing a 2-1 arrear.
But as we all know nowadays our doubles are very effective. So with full confidence we started with the ladies – and the men’s doubles. Selena Piek and Paulien van Dooremalen defeated SĂ©verine Corvilain and Jelske Snoeck and in the mean time Ruud Bosch and I had won the first game to Mathijs Dierickx and Freek Golinski. In the second we quickly took a large lead but the Belgians refused to surrender. With smart playing and a bit of luck they fought themselves back to a 19-19 score. After that we managed to finish the match which also meant an over all Dutch victory in this friendly match of the ”lower countries”.
It was a very successful event and once again I want to make a compliment to the Flemish Badminton Association and Bloso for the fantastic organisation of this interland.
Now it is time to relax. It has been a busy and strenuous period and it is good to take some rest. Shortly I will look back at the year 2012 in an annual review. For now I wish everybody happy holidays, enjoy each other and all the things that you have procured to make these days memorable.