52nd Meteor Masters badminton tournament in Veendam great success

Sunday afternoon, May 14 at 6:00 PM, after three years and 341 matches, the new champions of the Meteor Masters tournament were announced. The last time this annual tournament could take place before the corona was in 2019. Fortunately, another large group of athletes came to the tournament, which was already organized for the 52nd time. No less than 194 players competed in 4 different classes, 20 parts for the honor and their share of the prize money (over € 4000 in total).

Matches were played throughout Saturday and Sunday morning to determine who would make it to the finals. Top badminton was again on display in the highest (Master) class. After Dennis Koppen (BV Almere) defeated his older brother Jasper in the semi-finals, he was allowed to compete against Timo Stoffelen (BV Almere) in the final. Spectacular rallies, but Dennis turned out to be too strong for Timo (21-16/21-17). In the men’s doubles, Dennis (together with Alex Vlaar, also from BV Almere) faced Timo Stoffelen (with Niels Veenstra from BC Amersfoort). Koppen & Vlaar won this double with 21-15 and 21-13

Alida Chen (BV Almere) was in no less than three finals for the ladies in the Master class; In the women’s singles she played a relatively easy final against Jamie Logt (GSBC Amor) (21-9/21-5). In the women’s doubles, Alida and Rosalie Teuben (BV Almere) competed against Sophie Ching (GSBC Amor) and Inger Pothuizen (BC Iduna), who reached the final as the strongest couple to beat the 2nd placed. There were some nice actions in the final, but the difference was too big in the end. Chen and Teuben won 21-11 and 21-13. In the mixed doubles, the women’s doubles winners faced each other. The mixed doubles of Alex Vlaar and Rosalie Teuben against Jasper Koppen and Alida Chen was a great match and a worthy conclusion to the tournament in which Vlaar and Teuben emerged as winners (21-16/21-15).

Also striking was the performance of Joyce Oord from BC GO. She reached the final in both the women’s doubles 4 and 6. In the 4, the first placed Chantal and Lisanne Tiekstra (from BC GO) were stronger (10-21/13-21). The final of her women’s doubles 6 was a very tough match – but she also lost after three games, in this case against Chantal and Myrthe Stokkentre (from BAN from Amersfoort).

Two members of SV Meteoor themselves won prizes. Marco Kruys was 2nd in the mixed doubles 8. Jildau van Netten was 1st in the women’s doubles 8 and 2nd in the women’s singles in the same class.

The association cup for the association that manages to win the most matches over the entire tournament was awarded to BV Almere. Student badminton association Amor from Groningen eventually came close, but the force majeure from the polder was just too great. It ended up winning 5 games. Third place in the standings was for the 1.Frankfurter BC.

A sporty and flawless tournament without significant injuries. The organization was happy to notice that they can still successfully organize such a large event and that there are enough participants. A great achievement by the approximately 20 volunteers of the Veendammer badminton association.