The fourth edition of the YONEX Luxembourg Open finished yesterday, with European players claiming seven medals in total. One of the highlights was the new duo of Marvin Seidel/Thuc Phuong Nguyen, who won the mixed doubles title in what was their very first European Circuit tournament together.
Nguyen had most recently been paired with Jones Ralfy Jansen, with several achievements including a title at the Estonian International 2024, a third-place finish at this year's Polish Open, and reaching the quarterfinals at the 2025 European Championships. Seidel, on the other hand, has been very successful in men’s doubles alongside Mark Lamsfuss – still recovering from a major injury – and previously played mixed doubles with Linda Efler on tour, most recently in 2019.
“It’s been a while since my last international tournament [in mixed doubles] but luckily I played a lot of mixed in the leagues so I hope I still have an ok feeling for it. I always loved playing mixed and I am really looking forward to playing it again internationally.”
Since Lamsfuss’s injury, Seidel has also partnered with Daniel Hess, but he and Nguyen had already shared the court at the European Mixed Team Championships qualification stage last December, where they won both of their matches.
“It was more or less a suggestion from the coaches to try it again and after giving it some thought, I liked the idea more and more,” Seidel said before the Luxembourg Open. “I believe that Thuc is a very talented player and for sure we can do well together on court!”
And the new duo didn’t disappoint. “The biggest goal for the beginning is to make the partnership work as good as possible. We will need to talk a lot and work on trusting each other as much as possible to give us the highest chance of performing well,” Seidel added ahead of the tournament.
The pair showed some great progress throughout the week as well as a great willingness to fight, with three of their five matches going to three games. In the final, they took on Danish duo Kristoffer Kolding/Mette Werge, runners-up at this year’s Swedish Open. The Germans had a strong opening, taking the first game 21-13. The Danes struck back in a close second game, 24-22, but Seidel/Nguyen sealed it in the decider, 21-11.
So, what’s next for the new pair? “The midterm goal is to reach the top 32 consistently to be able to perform on the highest stage again. From there, we will see how far we can get.”
Mixed doubles was the most successful event for European players in Luxembourg. Alongside Seidel/Nguyen’s gold and Kolding/Werge’s silver, France’s Aymeric Tores/Lilou Schaffner also took home bronze.
There were more podium finishes for Europe as well. Denmark's Lærke Hvid/Anna Klausholm won silver and France's Tea Margueritte/Flavie Vallet won bronze in women’s doubles, while Irina Amalie Andersen from Denmark and Daniil Dubovenko from Israel won bronze medals in women’s and men’s singles respectively.
You can view all the results and podium finishes here.
Next stop: STATE Denmark Challenge 2025
The STATE Denmark Challenge 2025 presented by RSL is taking place this week in Farum, Denmark, where many of the medallists from Luxembourg will compete again. The International Challenge will also feature many top names from the European Circuit, including Polina Buhrova/Yevheniia Kantemyr, Arnaud Merkle, Kaloyana Nalbantova, Eloi Adam/Leo Rossi, and Callum Hemming/Estelle Van Leeuwen.
All matches will be streamed live on Badmintoneurope.tv.
