Cologne Gay Games August 2010

Just like the Olympics, the Gay Games are only held every 4 years, and after Chicago 4 years ago, the Games are now being held in Europe: how exciting!

Here is the list of seeded players: I am the nr2 seed! But the nr1 seed is Zaenuddin, who actually has too many ranking points to still be in D.... So he would need to play in C.

And Godelinde & me are nr1 seed in D Mixed Doubles! Wow!

http://glta.tournamentsoftware.com/sport/seeds.aspx?id=5D8BA0EE-4BAC-4152-ABC6-3B3625CCAF7A

It really did feel like I was an Olympic athlete, as there were street signs in Cologne about the Games, and the Opening Ceremony was held in the big stadium:

This photo is a bit blurry, because the "Gay Games" text was moving from right to left. It was taken in one of the underground stations.

 

I had a bye in Singles first round, and in Round 2, I played fellow Dutchman Frank Ebbink:
I won 6-0, 7-6 (7-3 in the tie-break). In de second set I had to come back from 3-5 down, as Frank started to play really well.

Frank and I enjoyed a beer after our match.

The third round was against German guy Christian, who was way too good for me. especially in the first set, he showed me all corners of the court, proving he was more of a top C player than a D player.....
I lost 1-6, 4-6 in the end. In the second set I was leading 3-0, but after that, he "toyed" with me.

Proud Christian.

Then it was time for our first Mixed Doubles match. and because another couple had withdrawn, the winner of this match would play in the final. We played against Rob and Gladys, both also from Holland. I played against Rob in Amsterdam as well previously. Godelinde and I won 6-2, 6-1!

The Mixed Doubles Final was against Frank (again) and Annemiek, also Dutch.

This was the final point of the game.
After a very long match, more than 2 and a half hours we only lost 5-7, 5-7 but it was a great match. In the second set we were 0-4 down, but fought back to 5-4 ahead.

Here is the medal ceremony:

And because I am so proud of this medal, here it is in close up:

Here are the results for both D-Singles and D Mixed Doubles:

http://glta.tournamentsoftware.com/sport/draw.aspx?id=5D8BA0EE-4BAC-4152-ABC6-3B3625CCAF7A&draw=19

http://glta.tournamentsoftware.com/sport/draw.aspx?id=5D8BA0EE-4BAC-4152-ABC6-3B3625CCAF7A&draw=40


And here are the details of my matches:

http://glta.tournamentsoftware.com/sport/player.aspx?id=5D8BA0EE-4BAC-4152-ABC6-3B3625CCAF7A&player=131


And Godelinde and I are mentioned in the list of winners:

http://glta.tournamentsoftware.com/sport/winners.aspx?id=5D8BA0EE-4BAC-4152-ABC6-3B3625CCAF7A

And a last word: many thanks Lies and Oliver for your camera actions!