Badminton: Good start with four losses

Badminton is considered to be the fastest ball sport in the world. The exchange of blows between the players on the net sometimes resembles a real barrage, with smashes by professionals, speeds of more than 300 kilometers per hour are often reached. And yet the Israeli top player Misha Zilberman, who has been in the service of the first division TSV Neuhausen-Nymphenburg for four years, always finds time for a piece of cake.

In the top game against the Dane Mads Christophersen from 1. BC Saarbrücken-Bischmisheim he made a spin around his own axis in the second set before suddenly returning the shuttlecock behind his back as a concealed backhand. The art stroke delighted the fans, even if the point ultimately went to Christophersen. In the end, however, the Israeli won the TSV’s first home game with 11: 8, 11: 7 and 11: 6. Despite Zilberman’s strong performance, it was not enough, in the end the multiple German champions Bischmisheim just got the upper hand with 4: 3.

Although the Slovenian Kaja Stankovic and access Kati-Kreet Marran, 23, from Estonia had impressed with their strong performances. Stankovic defeated the Indonesian Priskila Siahaya, who had been unbeaten in the first Bundesliga for a long time, in three clear sets. And Marran, who is on position 44 in the double world rankings, had a four-set win against Siahaya / Kieffer at the side of Annabella Jäger. What Neuhausen’s team boss Philipp Blonck was almost even more pleased with than the convincing performance of his match winners was the 3: 4, which earned the Munich team a point. In the second game of the weekend, however, it set a solid 6-1 against the strong SV Fun-Ball Dortelweil.

Now there are four defeats for TSV, because they were clearly defeated at Blau Weiß Wittorf 2: 5 on the first weekend of the game, the day after that Neuhausen lost 3: 4 in Trittau – which also earned a point. Neuhausen’s second entry, the Irish international Paul Reynolds, 22, had won over Tobias Wadenka with a four-set win in the first men’s doubles.

Because of the canceled pre-season, the club still has a financial cushion

That sounds meager, but compared to previous years it means a significantly better start to the first half of the season, which has promoted TSV from the previous last place in the table to ninth place in the eleven field – the relegation place. “We are now more broadly positioned than in previous years,” says Blonck and points out that with a total of three additions (TSV also signed the Malaysian individual specialist Yeoh Seng Zoe), no departures of the previous regular players had to be compensated for. Of course, the question arises as to how TSV can financially support the increase in its squad, which is made up of numerous professionals. “Since not all of them are deployed at the same time and our players are only paid per deployment, we didn’t have to expand our budget or go into debt,” explains Blonck. The first division team can continue to rely on the support of the main club and smaller sponsors: “Taking risks and getting into debt is not an option for us,” continues the team manager. In addition, you still have a financial cushion from the previous season, which was broken off prematurely due to the corona crisis, that you can use up.

The fact that Neuhausen’s second line was promoted to the second Bundesliga did not strain the TSV budget, according to Blonck: “This squad consists essentially of young players who are still in training and of individual experienced people who have been in professional life for a long time stand.” He doesn’t have to worry about the livelihood of his first division professionals anyway. The Pole Przemyslaw Szydlowski and the Ukrainian Natascha Voytsekh are also active in leagues in their home countries, and Paul Reynolds plays in the Danish league alongside his involvement in Munich.