Geldrop Open Tournament

It seems like an eternity ago, but there was a time when tournaments could still be played. On the 7th and 8th of March the ‘Geldropse Open Kampioenschappen’ were played, in Geldrop oddly enough. Four people of USSR went there to conquer the other players in Noord-Brabant: Indra (board member), Tak Pin (being a USSR member for this weekend), Vincent and Pauline.

The first match on Saturday 9.00h was a mixed doubles played by Pauline and Indra. They won that one and the following match as well. Vincent played doubles and singles. After two singles it seemed like his singles adventure was over, but he was announced second best! So he could play the semi-finals the next day, unfortunately, against the same opponent as the first day. He played doubles with Lucas in category 6. Sadly, they lost both, but the matches were really nice to watch. Pauline played doubles with Vinny, they did not go through to the finals, but the difference between the finalists and them was only one lost game. The last match, that was played on Saturday night around 22.00h, was a doubles of Indra and Tak Pin, who played together in category 4. They managed to reach the semi-finals!
After an exhausting day some food and sleep were needed.

“After an awkward prizing ceremony (not shaking hands because of Covid-19) a group photo had to be made. There was no flag, but that was not a problem…”

The next day the first match to be played at 9.00h was Indra again! This time his singles. He was nonchalant about his singles, saying that his main focus was on doubles and mixed doubles. In the meantime, he kept winning his singles! On Sunday the aforementioned semi-finals were played and some finals. Indra reached the finals with his singles. After an intense match of 3 sets, he lost, but that made him runner-up of HE6! The last match of that day was played by... Pauline and Indra again! They had to play against Vinny, Pauline’s doubles partner. It took 3 sets, but Pauline and Indra managed to win GD6!

After an awkward prize ceremony (not shaking hands because of Covid-19) a group photo had to be made. There was no flag, but that was not a problem, ‘USSR’ was depicted by body language. The weekend and victories had to be celebrated, in style, just like the year before, at Soho, eating sushi and frozen yoghurt.

Written by: Pauline Timmers