Adding German flavour to Dubai badminton extravaganza

Dubai — World badminton top 10 mixed doubles pair Michael Fuchs and Birgit Michels of Germany stood out for a different reason during the year-end BWF awards function at the Four Seasons Resort in Jumeirah. The duo were attired in traditional German costumes, in fact the only ones to be in national wear apart from the Emirati men and women.

“This is our dress, typical of the mountainous regions in our country,” said Fuchs who is one of the more accomplished doubles players (men and mixed) from Europe. “We decided on this to show the people in Dubai of what we may look like in our native places back home.”

Birgit said: “This is fun too, getting used to the UAE in our traditional clothes - first the camel ride on the beach, the falcon presentation and then the year-ending BWF awards night.” The pair was seen going through their routines on Tuesday afternoon paying special attention to their net drops and cross court smashes on Court 2 of the two show courts arena, while the other contingents trained and seated it out on the practice facility next to it, separated by a huge curtain.

“We are here to go up and improve not only in rankings but hopefully make an impression on the red hot pairs. Quality wise we are up there but there’s room for more improvement,” said Fuchs whose partnership with Birgit has seen the duo grow to being the eighth rated mixed doubles pair for the ongoing $ 1 million MetLife BWF Destination Dubai World Superseries Finals from December 17 to 21.

He is positive of at least an upset or two and maybe a slot in the last four from their qualifying Group A which includes the top rated Chinese combination of Zhang Nan and Zhao Yunlei; South Korean third seeds Ko Sung Hyun and Kim Ha Na; and the strong English pair Chris Adcock and Gabrielle Adcock.

The top two pairs proceed to the last four stage where they will meet the runners-up and winners of Group B in the traditional format of 1 versus 2 and 2 versus 1.

moni@khaleejtimes.com