What’s new from the HYLO® Sports family
The HYLO® Sports family has been up to a lot once again over the last week. We take a look back at the last seven days’ events and competitions featuring our athletes, teams and clubs.
A week-long badminton show in Saarbrücken
The 2024 European Badminton Championships, held in the Saarlandhalle in Saarbrücken from 8 to 14 April 2024, was a total success and offered plenty of action, spectacle and top-level sport to spectators, both in the stands and via screens.
Sporting excellence
Although Germany’s medal hopes at the first home European championships in 42 years were already hit hard by Mark Lamsfuß and Yvonne Li’s withdrawal due to injury before the start of the tournament, countless badminton fans streamed into the Saarlandhalle over the seven days of competition. Unfortunately, the two BC Bischmisheim players were no longer able to defend their titles – Marvin Seidel in the men’s doubles, and Isabel Lohau in the mixed doubles due to the last-minute withdrawal of her playing partner Lamsfuß. Nevertheless, the athletes of the DBV (German badminton federation) achieved respectable performances at these European championships in their home country. The title fights were dominated by the top badminton country of Denmark with two titles in the men’s singles and doubles, now seven-time women’s singles champion Carolina Marin of Spain, and to the delight of many visitors from the neighbouring country, two titles for France in the mixed and women’s doubles. More details in our news report.
Attractive side programme
Alongside the European Championships, HYLO® SPORTS also offered a range of events for fans on site, on their event page and on social media channels. Anyone not able to get to Saarbrücken for the home European Championships could cheer the team on through the screen. Right from the start, all games across all three courts were livestreamed on our website. All matches involving German athletes were broadcast with commentary.
Every day there was a fun, informative chat show where press officer Thomas Fuchs interviewed various guests from the DBV squad in a relaxed atmosphere. The clips from this series (called ‘HAU DRUFF DU GEILER’) and the videos with daily summaries of tournament highlights were well received, and can still be accessed after the European Championships via our website.
SVE shocks table leaders at Millerntor
SV Elversberg returned from their 2. Fußball-Bundesliga away game against St. Pauli on Sunday (14 April 2024) with an astonishing but well-deserved 4:3 away win. After the final whistle on the 29th day of play in the 30,000-seater Millerntor stadium, more than 1,000 Elversberg fans who accompanied the team were able to celebrate a historic away win in this match against second division leaders FC St. Pauli, their first home defeat of the season. In an intensive game with lots of opportunities, coach Horst Steffen’s team were once again able to demonstrate their familiar, popular offensive football, and kept focus despite dropping behind twice. More details in our post-match report.
The win over St. Pauli represents another key step towards staying in the league. The Saarland team are at tenth place in the table with 39 points and five games left to play, eight points above danger of relegation and ten above the direct relegation zone. Although it is not yet a done deal in terms of the maths, SVE will now be able to now be able to tackle their upcoming challenges in Germany’s second highest professional football division with a relaxed, hugely confident demeanour.
The next highlight is just around the corner: on Friday (19 April), SVE will be welcoming FC Schalke 04 to a sold-out URSAPHARM arena for a floodlit match at 6:30 p.m..
We have once again relaunched our betting game for this home match: you can place bets up to two minutes before kick-off and win attractive prizes. The betting game can be found here.
Successful HYLO® home opener for Saarlouis Hornets
The HYLO® home opener for Saarlouis Hornets in the 2. Baseball-Bundesliga was a complete success. On Saturday (13 April 2024), the Saarlouis baseball team successfully kick-started their home season at the Saarlouis ballpark with a sweep against their namesake, the Bad Homburg Hornets. They were able to gain magnificent victories (9:7 & 7:0) in both games of the double-header.
The first game began with the traditional ‘first pitch’, this time thrown by the mayor of Saarlouis, Carsten Quirin. After the second of seven innings, the Hornets had already established an early 7:2 lead thanks to strong hits by Florian Maaß, David Reicherts and Alexander Bach. The team consistently put in a strong defensive performance, particularly young right-field player Jonas Grün, who thoroughly impressed on his first appearance in the starting nine. Following a few errors by their Bad Homburg opponents and a controversial refereeing decision, the final score after seven innings was 9:7 to the Hornets.
The second game of the day initially saw strong pitching, with both teams only gaining a few points despite some good opportunities. From the third inning onwards, the visiting team started making more mistakes, which the Saarlouis players capitalised on. Phenomenal defence by the Hornets and great pitching by Jay Buech gave the Saarland team 7:0 and their second win of the day, securing the sweep. This American player has been supporting Saarlouis from the mound for the past year and remained a fantastic pitcher for the second game.
With three wins and one loss in the first two days of play, the Saarlouis Hornets have secured a good start to the new season. The many spectators in the modernised ball park were able to enjoy the HYLO® home opener and all of the accompanying events in high spirits. Musical accompaniment and break-time entertainment from the Brass Band Ludweiler ensured a fantastic afternoon for Saarland’s baseball fans.
Gabriel Clemens in last 16 in Riesa
Saarland darts pro Gabriel Clemens reached the last sixteen at the International Darts Open 2024 in Riesa (12 in 14 April 2024). At the beginning of this home tournament, the German Giant was facing a difficult task: in the first round on Friday, Clemens lined up against former world champion ‘Snakebite’ Peter Wright. Gaga survived three match darts against the former world number one in a crazy match. Ultimately, Gabriel Clemens was able to beat the Scot 6:5 in the deciding leg of an exciting game. Both players started strong in the decider. However, Wright missed three match darts at tops, whilst Clemens converted his fourth opportunity for a double 10 to progress to the second round.
In the second round on Saturday evening, the Saarwellingen native secured a place in the last sixteen with an average 94, beating Dirk van Duijvenbode 6:4. The Dutch player won the first leg but then was unable to establish much of a foothold. Clemens took advantage of this and moved into the lead. He won five legs in a row, but missed his first two match darts, allowing van Duijvenbode a comeback to 4:5. Despite missing a checkout dart on the bullseye, Clemens then ended the match with a 72 finish and joined the last 16.
Unfortunately, the German Giant’s Riesa journey then came to an end on Sunday against Englishman Chris Dobey: the Saarland player’s tournament finished with a 0:6 whitewash.
Gabriel Clemens will be back in front of a German audience on Friday at the European Darts Grand Prix in Sindelfingen (19 to 21 April).
BIKE AID gains experience in the mountains
Last weekend (12 to 14 April 2024), Saarland’s professional cycling team BIKE AID competed in three major one-day events in France’s Jura mountains in UCI category 1.1. At the ‘Classic Grand Besançon Doubs’ on Friday, the ‘Tour du Jura Cycliste’ on Saturday and the ‘Tour du Doubs’ on Sunday, the young, newly-formed team from Blieskastel faced all of France’s ‘Tour de France’ (World Tour) teams. This was an unequal showdown against teams with fifty times’ the Saarland cyclists’ budget. For BIKE AID it was a mini Tour de France, David versus Goliath.
The race was a particularly important opportunity for the team’s young cyclists to gain experience. They were very hard races, especially in terms of the conditions. For many of the team’s new riders, it was their first chance to gain experience on the big stage and there was plenty to learn: such as Saarland’s young talent Máté Balázs from Niederwürzbach, who had to push himself to the limits during the race.
At the third and largest race on this mini French mountain tour, it was Vinzent Dorn who put in an impressive performance. He triumphed in various mountain classifications at the Tour du Doubs, winning the category. His exceptional performance meant that a BIKE AID jersey appeared on the podium alongside the big names. A truly remarkable achievement for the whole team!
The Saarland cycling pros’ next tour is on Saturday. They are switching continents and heading to Africa to earn day wins and rating points at the Tour de Benin from 20 April to 5 May.
Füchse Berlin miss first title chance in final four
Last weekend, Füchse Berlin were fighting for the first of three potential title wins this season in the REWE Final-4. The final tournament for the German handball cup was held in Cologne’s LANXESS arena on 13 and 14 April 2024. In captain Paul Drux and Fabian Wiede, Füchse had two players on their squad who had previously raised the cup in a Füchse jersey in 2014.
Semi-final defeat by long-time rivals Magdeburg
Coach Jaron Siewert’s team initially met SC Magdeburg, the second-placed team in the Handball-Bundesliga, for the first semi-final on Saturday afternoon. The game against the green and reds was the fourth time these two top clubs had faced off this season – this time, with a better end for Magdeburg. Füchse Berlin lost to SC Magdeburg 30:25 (14:10) in front of 19,750 spectators in the Cologne arena. Despite falling 5:0 behind early on, Füchse fought their way back into the game and were able to stay on Magdeburg’s heels, but never managed to overtake their opponents and ultimately had to admit deserved defeat. Berlin’s top scorer in the game was Lasse Andersson, with nine goals.
Defeat in match for third place
This meant that on Sunday, coach Jaron Siewert’s team did not feature in the final of the Final-4 tournament, but instead fought for third place against the other semi-final loser, SG Flensburg-Handewitt. Despite vocal support from the Berlin fans that travelled with them, on Sunday Füchse Berlin once again had to admit defeat 28:31 (19:15) to SG Flensburg-Handewitt in front of 19,750 spectators. This meant that they lost out on third place in the DHB cup. Berlin’s top scorer was once again Lasse Andersson, with seven goals.
‘It definitely was not easy for either team to pick themselves back up after losing a semi-final and have to compete for third place rather than be in the final’, as Füchse’s board member for sports Stefan Kretzschmar summarised, before turning his sights back to the future with a motivated eye: ‘Ultimately we were unlucky to end up in fourth place. But the team will straighten back up. We still have a few things left ahead of us this season.’
Next up, Füchse have a top LIQUI MOLY HBL game on Sunday (21 April), when they welcome THW Kiel to their home stadium.
1. FCS Tischtennis still on the road to success
After their historic success in the Champions League final and defending their title at the Final Four in front of a home crowd, 1. FC Saarbrücken Tischtennis are still on the road to success in the Tischtennis-Bundesliga (TTBL) and have a magnificent lead in the main round. Despite the absence of top players Patrick Franziska and Darko Jorgic, who were involved in international tournaments, on Monday (15 April) the team managed to defeat TTC Zugbrücke Grenzau 3:0 in the Joachim-Deckarm-Halle without losing a game. This victory consolidated the Saarland team’s position at the top of the Bundesliga table.
Japanese defender Muramatsu put in an impressive performance and won the first point for FCS TT against Polish player Kubik without dropping a set. The Japanese defender is fourth in the TTBL rankings with a 11:2 balance sheet. Saarland has two other professionals in the top seven, in the form of Patrick Franziska and Darko Jorgic. Cedric Nuytinck created a stir by beating Yi-Hsin Feng in four sets, making a major contribution to Saarland’s win and ensuring a 2:0 lead. Eduard Ionescu gained the final point in the day of play with a 3:1 win over Samuel Walker.
Friday of next week (26 April) sees a top game in front of a home crowd, between the second-placed team and their long-term rivals Borussia Düsseldorf.
We are looking forward to upcoming appearances from our #hyloathletes and wish all of our HYLO® partners much luck and success.