21 Jun 2012 at 06:49 | Published by: mindthegap | Views: 9701 | News search

Youth Nations Cup Bad Münder: Sebastian Piekorz  (Photo by Achim Braungart-Zink)

The Youth Nations Cup took place on the felt and Eternit courses in Bad Münder on Whitsun on the 26th and 27th of May. Bad Münder is a nice little town loacted between two North german ranges of hills surrounded by a beautiful scenery. It has been the host for great national and international competitions in the past as it is one of the German centres of excellence for minigolf.

As a preliminary competition for the Youth World Championship in August the Nations Cup is utilized by several nations to explore the courses. 3 teams from Germany, 2 from Austria and teams from Switzerland, Sweden and Finland signed in for the competition. Furthermore there were some indiviual players from the Czech Republic and Denmark.

The teams could be set up with 3 or 4 players. If there were 4 players in a team, the worst score of each round was cut. There were 8 rounds to play in the qualification. After that the winner teams were decided in play-offs.

It is not surprising that the Germans dominated the Nations Cup as it was held on their own soil. The teams were put in two groups. Germany I won the group A with a total of 610 (average 25.4) in 8 rounds. Germany III came second only 7 shots behind. The team Austria II reached the 3rd place in front of Switzerland. Group B was won by Germany II with a total of 614 (average 25.6), just 7 shots in front of Sweden who came second. Austria I reached the 3rd place in front of Finland.

The first semifinal was Germany I - Sweden, won by the German team by 17 shots. The 2nd semifinal was won by Germany III against Germany II by only 2 shots. So the final play-off was Germany I - Germany III, won by Germany I by 8 shots. As the play-off for the 3rd place was won by Germany II the German teams were on the first 3 places.

There were some incredibly good scores. Maike Haupt from Herten (team Germany III) won the girls category in an absolutely convincing manner with of total of 302 in 12 rounds (average 25.2), 18 shots in front of Katarina Benn (team Germany I). Marielle Svensson (team Sweden) came 3rd only 4 shots behind. Maikes result would have been good enough for the 3rd place in the boys category. Just to mention that: Maike, only 13 years old, is still in the kids category. It was her first international competition.

Philip Lau from Hilzingen (team Germany I) won the boys category with an excellent total of 293 (average 24.4) only 2 shots in front of Marcel Waleska (team Germany II). Sebastian Piekorz (team Germany I) reached the 3rd place.

So it was a good test for the World Championship in August, not only for the Germans. Sweden, for example, had all their boys among the first 10 in the boys category, and their only girl reached a 3rd place. That is not surprising as the Swedes should know the courses well. The men's team won the World Championship in 2003.

Links to results, reports, photos and videos, mostly in English (some in German):

»Full results
»Official YNC Website
»Press releases
»Photos of the teams and individuals
»Newspaper article Neue Deister Zeitung
»Newsticker from the competition
»Report 1st day by Achim Braungart-Zink
»Report 2nd day by Achim Braungart-Zink & Heiner Sprengkamp
»Photo gallery
»DMJ facebook site: Several videos

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