The second German Championship has been completed and, after the German Masters and the first DEM in Bonn, the trilogy has been completed. And of course in Gera – with the U13s and U19s – there were wins and losses, joys and sorrows were close together, referees were in despair and medals were won.
In this final 2024 tournament report, everyone who reads it will find out what happened on, in front of and next to the courts, see unpublished show material from the HH combo and much more!
In order to become “Green Tournament” winners in 2024, we decided to all travel to Gera by train – and you can rely on the train in winter 2024! The first group, consisting of the “mixers” Kalle and Minchang (both ETV), Nico and Lara (both Horner TV) and Sofia (EMTV) had to get up early to take one of the first ICE trains towards Gera with Fabian Gruss. We were there in time for the arrival and opening and played our first mixed games as expected. Who expected that Kalle/Minchang would beat the 8th seeds Till (local patriot from Gera with incredible support) and Emma (Bayern) in three sets (24:22 in the third!) and then beat the favorites Ineke (NRW) and in the quarterfinals Leo (Saarland) was defeated in two sets, we advise him to play the (one-off) lottery – a donation share is requested.
The second Hamburg group arrived on time for the semi-finals: Moritz (OSV), Alexia (HSV), Michel (Horner TV), Miya (TSV Trittau) and Felix and Mats (both TSG Bergedorf) were joined on time by Philip Wong and Gisbert with 20 Minutes late we were escorted to the Panndorfhalle (for the sake of completeness: Ben (Horner TV) as well as Mira and Yening (both pregnant women) were brought by their parents, Breana and Bianka (both BC 68) came independently after school – that made the Hamburg team complete!). Here we were able to watch the Hamburg duel between Kalle/Minchang and Ben/Ruby (Lower Saxony) without a coach, which Kalle and Minchang won in two sets against the 5th seeds. Parallels to Moni and Vanessa’s U17 girls’ doubles were revealed (if you haven’t read it, please catch up: silver and bronze from Bonn – part two of the championship trilogy with an epic U15 final – Hamburg Badminton Association) and we know that the two of them that day Even the U19 mixed winners (Alexander & Aurelia -> congratulations on your win!) would have defeated. But all finals traditionally only take place on Sunday.
After dinner at an Italian restaurant, which (almost all) national associations trust, we were able to spend the first quiet and relaxing night in our luxurious-looking accommodation. On Saturday everyone finally came to their first games, for some it was an exciting primary, for others it was familiar territory. Our coaches were definitely at full capacity and gratefully accepted the help of Lara, who supported the U13s wherever she could.
In the singles, Mira continued where she left off at the German Masters and defeated 8th seed Kailynn (NRW) in three sets. The reporter, who was stopped by the youth assembly, entered the championship stage again when Bayern flexed their muscles for the first time and Mira (super close in three sets) and Minchang (close in three sets) were left behind in the singles. Fortunately, all good things don’t always come in threes and so Mats was able to defeat his opponent Valerian in three sets after initial difficulties. And our U17er Mats enjoyed having a say in the medals among the U19ers and took the Leberkäs from the roll from Felix (Bayern), who was second seeded, in two sets.
The further course of the individual disciplines went without any major surprises, the doubles started on time (and here the first praise goes to the fantastic organizer!). There are two beautiful stories to tell here. Our youngest, Mira & Yenning, continued to win their first game diligently, which led to the first rebooking of the day (speculating that the train would be massively delayed wouldn’t have been appropriate either). And our eldest, Michel and Luis, first defeated fourth seeds Anton Druzhchenko and Tim Schmitz and then prevailed in a three-set thriller against Yuri (Berlin) and Felix (Bayern). This game alone would be worth its own article: every set was tense and close, in the second set a referee’s decision led to such a discussion that there was the (only?!) referee intervention during the tournament and in the end Luis and Michel won it Game – a badminton festival with the downer that Fabian has a few less hairs.
This brings us to the final day, which is told a bit too quickly: we have two Hamburg semi-final games (JD U19 & JE U19) and unfortunately we lose both. Kalle and Minchang run into the hall with the finalists, but neither of them can take their flow from Friday into the final game and lose it clearly – but win silver for Hamburg. Michel, Ben and Mats made it to the semi-finals and won bronze – congratulations on your incredible achievements! And who will win the gold this year? With Luis Pongratz we have another exceptional athlete at the Hamburg federal base who, after the JEM – without having fulfilled his dream of a medal – played through the German Championships without losing a set and thus achieved a hat trick (winner in the individual 2022, 2023, 2024). did it perfectly – amazing!
That’s it for the 2024 season highlights, we’re looking forward to a new, sportingly challenging year in 2025!
Congratulations to all participating players!!!
Tournament.de – German Individual Championship U13 and U19 Gera 2024 – Winner / Rating
Still not enough? Then you know that the best comes last:
#toll – Miya plays a game on a DEM again after more than two injury-plagued years – and wins! Badminton Germany says: welcome back Miya, we missed you and look forward to more!
#trainingworldchampion – Moritz only had one game at his first DEM (unfortunately lost in two sets), but from the time he entered the hall until he left it in the evening, he could only be found on the playing field! We register a record-breaking ten hours of continuous badminton training with over twenty different sparring partners with the Guinness Book of Records.
#buffetworldchampion – Nico sets about relieving the competitive sports coordinator of all tasks, the buffet is a poem all Saturday! A big thank you, especially during my absence due to the youth general assembly!
#d(e)adjokes – I still don’t understand, “dad jokes” or “dead jokes” – sounds super similar and ultimately means the same thing, right? #agediscrimination
#pokemonvslilo&stitch – you see a cartoon character that you don’t know and you assume it’s a Pokémon (aren’t they still in fashion? And there are millions of them…) – and again just shame on you… #agediscrimination2.0
#youthplaysformedals – with Mira and Alexia (both 2015) and Yening (2014) we had three U11s at the start – all of whom won at least one game! #hamburgyouthonfire
#bayernkollegial2.0 – all Hamburg residents are provided with cars or an earlier train connection so that they don’t arrive home so late. Pass the time until the train leaves in 1.5 hours? Asian noodles – there I meet a Bavarian colleague with his player who doesn’t have any cash with them (the EC machine is probably broken…). Of course, I take on the duty of supervision as a colleague for three minutes – even if the savings bank is 15 minutes away – we help and support each other!
#thumbsup – Quiz question: in how many pictures does Lara give her thumbs up? If you know the answer, please write the solution on a postcard and stick it on the wall in your home.
Dirctors Cut – a never-published video was brought to us by the film producer B.Wa. leaked, which shows a short excerpt from a major promotion by the Hamburg-Hesse combo to finally put the Bavarian actors in their place! Unfortunately that hasn’t happened (yet), but look and be amazed and expect even bigger things:
