The marketing company Badminton Deutschland mbH (VBD) has reorganized its personnel with regard to the YONEX German Open Badminton Championships, which it has now been organizing for the German Badminton Association (DBV) for 25 years.
With immediate effect, Jonathan Rathke, who has already helped organize and run sporting events for several years and acted as deputy tournament director in connection with the YONEX German Open 2020, will act as tournament director of the International Badminton Championships of Germany. The 30-year-old is also well-known in the badminton scene for his work as team manager of the 1st team of the 1st BV Mülheim an der Ruhr (1st BVM) and sporting director of the traditional club, among other things. At the same time, Jonathan Rathke still regularly plays for points himself as a member of the second division team of the 1. BVM.
Deputy Tournament Director of the YONEX German Open remains the full-time VBD Managing Director Niko Schmelzle (born Jockenhöfer), who held this position for the first time on the occasion of the 2021 edition.
The previous tournament director, Louise Huber-Fennell, will also continue to work for VBD, taking over, among other things, the management of the Info Point in the Westenergie Sports Hall as part of the next edition of the most important tournament for DBV.
The tournament calendar of the Badminton World Federation BWF for 2022 is not yet fixed. Currently, the BWF is negotiating with the organizers of the various tournaments about the concrete design. The DBV has a great interest in hosting the YONEX German Open Badminton Championships again next year, and even more so in Mülheim an der Ruhr. The prestigious tournament was held without interruption in the municipality in the Ruhr region from 2005 to 2019, before it had to be cancelled in 2020 and 2021 due to the Corona pandemic.
from Claudia Pauli
