A day at the Dutch Open

The Dutch Open is a major international tournament that attracts participants from all over the world. For the second year in a row, BNL held the tournament in the Maaspoort in Den Bosch. On of photos you can see that it had been completely transformed into one big badminton event.

While the quarter-finals were going on, this reporter had to miss it, because there was a Badminton conference/fair to visit first. There, executives could learn about injury prevention, improving the safety of athletes and discussing how to make/keep the sport inclusive. Also interesting, but that means I can’t give an impression of the quarter-finals here. Except that the cheering occasionally reached our audience.

After the conference it was badminton’s turn. Or better said: the badminton players. There was a grand farewell for Selena Piek. The figurehead of badminton playing in the Netherlands for ten years. She had participated in the Olympic Games three times, and also has many Dutch Open titles to her name. She said goodbye today. But she still participated in this edition of the Dutch Open. She had won the quarter-finals this morning with her mixing partner Robin Tabing and still had enough energy left to be the center of attention before playing the semi-finals later in the day. Cheers!

The badminton players who had won prizes at the European Championships for veterans were also discussed. Here are the older figureheads, with the player in the 75+ category receiving extra applause. Our Uun Santosa was also mentioned, but he turned out to be absent. Later I met him in the stands. He had gotten into a traffic jam and therefore missed his ceremony.
BTW: there were even more OSM members in that stand: trainers, parents and youth players. They were preparing for the semi-finals.

Those matches were played on two courts next to each other. I won’t go into every party. We recognized some players from previous editions, such as the English mixed duo Estelle Van Leeuwen and Callum Hemming, who qualified for the final for the third year in a row.

Of course, by far the most interest went to that other mixed duo: Selena Piek and Robin Tabing. As Olympians they were by far the favorites, especially for the enthusiastic home crowd. Their French opponents did not have much to complain about either. With 2 times 21-14 they secured their place in the final.

Not many other Dutch people had reached the semi-finals. Only Deborah Jille, who this reporter saw play in Amersfoort as a little girl, was in the women’s doubles semi-final with her French partner Margot Lambert. Unfortunately, the Stoeva sisters from Bulgaria were really a size too big for them. Those sisters also won the tournament a day later.

Much more exciting was the semi-final between the Danes Rasmus Espersen with Christian Kjaer against the French Eloi Adam and Leo Rossi. Although the French were placed higher, the Danes managed to advance to the final (which they won the next day) in a very entertaining match.

And then there was the last game of the day. John van Rooijen had previously been spotted along the line and was also a line judge in this game. It was a match to enjoy. The English Callum Hemming (there he is again) and Ethan Van Leeuwen (brother of Estelle) faced the youngsters from France who were just 20 years old: Mael Cattoen with Lucas Renoir. Smash after smash was delivered, impossible returns and always on the cutting edge. And despite the late hour, the crowd continued to cheer and clap. The French won this three-setter. Maybe because Callum was a bit tired after 4 tough matches, or because the French trainer explained it so well:

It just shows how close you can get to the matches and the players at such a tournament. I could have taken a selfie with every player, so to speak. I was even able to get a close-up of the star of the day: Selena. But I was clapping really hard for her at the time. I will, however, remember the wink we exchanged for a long time.

Luckily we have the photo’s yet.