Badminton duo

Dislocated, chilled and rebooked for the European Championships

Kathi Hochmeir and Serena Au Yeong.(Bild: GEPA pictures)

One injured, the other with a cold - and then the flight is canceled on arrival! Austria's top women's doubles team of Kathi Hochmeir/Serena Au Yeong are not exactly in luck ahead of the start of the European Badminton Championships on Tuesday. But the draw was kind to them.

"Saarbrücken is always quite pleasant to travel to because it's not that far and you can get there flexibly," said Kathi Hochmeir, taking the canceled flight and the change to the train from Frankfurt to the European Badminton Championships in her stride.

In the capital of Saarland, the WAT Simmering athlete and her Vorarlberg doubles partner Serena Au Yeong will face the Czech pairing Brozkovcova/Dobiasova on Tuesday. A feasible draw, as the two Austrians are ranked 83rd in the world rankings, better than anyone else from Austria in the current badminton rankings. But both players are not quite fit. While Kathi has been suffering from cold symptoms for a few days, Serena dislocated her left shoulder in training almost two weeks ago, but is pain-free.

Kathi Hochmeir is currently fighting for promotion to the Bundesliga with WAT Simmering.(Bild: GEPA pictures)

If she manages to beat the Czech team, the German European runners-up Lohau/Efler await on Thursday. "Our return flight is booked for Thursday evening." So rebooking again as with the journey? "If we win, we'd love to!"