This week I played the Yonex German Open, a Grand Prix Gold Tournament which is organised by my club 1.BV Mülheim! This tournament was the first one of a series of three events in which we’ll participate the coming weeks.
As Dave Khodabux was still recovering from his knee injury I only played the mixed doubles with Samantha Barning. We had a tough draw but you can’t expect anything different at a tournament with a GP Gold status which is also a preparatory event for the All England. Just every opponent is strong. At times we succeeded to make it difficult for our Korean opponents but unfortunately it was just accidentally. At a certain moment we scored 7 consecutive points but we lost the next seven. It was a matter of steadiness, mainly at half court, and of a failing defense. Exactly those elements that we are training insufficiently at the moment. Anyway we may consider it a good training for next weeks All England, the superior event of the circuit. The Dutch Badminton Association skipped this tournament so Samantha, Dave, Eefje Muskens and I decided to go there on our own expense. We think it is important to participate in a Premier Super Series now and than and compete at the highest possible level. With this one “just around the corner” it was an easy choice.
This event has something special. The National Indoor Arena in Birmingham is a great venue, the public is extremely enthusiastic, the history is impressive and the rules in and around the Arena are typically British and sometimes a bit overdone. But as a player you take them for granted.
For the first time in almost 3 months I will play a men’s double again with Dave and we are first seeded…………in the qualification tournament. We don’t have high expectations. Because of Dave’s injury we had only very limited training opportunities and consequently we don’t have any competition rhythm. Because of our ranking Samantha and I were admitted to the main tournament right away. This is cool. Of course we are going to try and play at our best level and we strive for a good result but we also want to enjoy this event.
After the All England we’ll travel to Basel for the Swiss Open. For the very last news you may watch my twitter: https://twitter.com/JorritdeRuiter