The star of the International parabadminton tournament in Prague will be the 10th player in the world, Japan's Shiho Sawada
The 7th Czech Para Badminton Open is still growing. Over 85 handicapped players from 19 countries including Australia and Japan have registered for the championship in Prague. Among the Czech players, the bronze medallist from the 2023 European Championships, wheelchair player Kamil Šnajdar from the Brno Sharks, will be the biggest firecracker. Come and support all Czech players 27-28.4.2024 in BB Arena Štěrboholy in Prague. "It will be a tournament with participation above Europe, but we still pride ourselves on the friendly family atmosphere of the whole event" describes the philosophy of the tournament's main organizer Voves.
Parabadminton is a paralympic racquet sport for disabled players sorted into 6 classification groups according to their disability: in simple terms, there are 2 groups for wheelchair players and 4 groups for standing players. If you would like to give it a try, parabadminton is trained in Brno, Ostrava, Pilsen, Jánské Lázně, Český Krumlov, but also in Prague and we firmly believe that clubs in other cities will join.
The history of parabadminton in the Czech Republic dates back to 2007. The very first pioneer was Halka Bitmanová from Prague, who led open training sessions at Janské Lázně High School until 2013. In 2014, these activities were continued by Pavla Grycová and coach Tomáš Vovs from Brno. In 2017, the Badminton Sharks Brno training group looked at the National parabadminton centre in Japan and were the first to compete in world tournaments including the 2018 European Championships in France, and the 2022 World Championships in Japan. At the last European Championships 2023 in the Netherlands, besides 4 Brno Sharks players, players from BA Plzeň and SK Badminton Český Krumlov also competed. And at the World Championship 2024 2 players of Badminton Sharks Brno and 1 representative of SK Badminton Český Krumlov. Among the greatest achievements of Czech para badminton players are: 5th place of Lukáš Kynclas (Badminton Sharks Brno) in mixed doubles with his teammate Anna Wolny from Poland at Bahrain Para Badminton International 2022, 3rd place in mixed doubles with her teammate Anna Wolny from Poland at Bahrain Para Badminton International 2022. Kamil Šnajdar's (Badminton Sharks Brno) third place in mixed doubles with teammate Marilou Maurel from France at the European Championships 2023 in Netherlands and 9th place Zbyněk Sýkora (SK Badminton Český Krumlov) in men's doubles with teammate Stephen Durand from France at the World Championships 2024 in Thailand.
But even the Czech tournament has a decent tradition. This year it will be the 7th annual Czech Para Badminton Open, Prague 2024. It will be a great feast of Czech para badminton, because there is no similar tournament in the world. It is a tournament outside the world federation calendar, and yet it has attracted a huge number of participants from an incredible number of countries. Usually tournaments are held for 3 countries such as Norway, Sweden and Finland. The problem with these smaller tournaments is the lack of competitors in each discipline. When the starting field is divided into classification groups, the athletes have units of opponents. Each new opponent is very valuable and we try to find participants for all groups so that everyone plays well. In fact, the Czech Republic has never seen such participation before. Czech Para Badminton Open will take place on the last weekend of April in BB Arena Sterboholy. The event will take place for the second time in Prague and every year it is becoming more and more popular event for handicapped badminton players. Last year 57 players from 10 European countries took part in the tournament and this year a record 89 players from 19 countries including Australia and Japan have registered.
The stars of the tournament will be two Japanese players, world No. 10 Shiho Sawada and world No. 18 Sena Tomoyose. Among the Czech players, the bronze medallist from the European Championships Kamil Šnajdar and the quarter-finalist from the World Championships Zbyněk Sýkora will be the biggest firecrackers. We are looking for volunteers and badminton referees for the tournament. Those interested can apply to the coordinators. Volunteer coordinator - Zuzana Buroňová, referee coordinator - Michaela Bencová. Contacts can also be found on parabadminton.cz or in the tournament event on Facebook 7th Czech Para Badminton Open 2024.
Fotky z MMČR v parabadmintonu 2023: fotky od profesionální fotografky.
České parabadmintonisty čeká týden před Czech Para Badminton Open ještě start na světovém turnaji ve Španělsku. Také připravujeme tréninkové campy pro vybrané reprezentanty. Vše nasvědčuje tomu, že by už příští rok mohl být český mezinárodní turnaj Czech Para Badminton Open v kalendáři BWF (Badminton World Federation). V létě budeme s kolegy Badminton Sharks Brno organizovat opět tradiční mezinárodní letní camp v Rousínově u Brna. Pokud vás parabadminton zaujal, tak navštivte webové stránky parabadminton.cz a tam si najděte oddíl, který je otevřený handicapovaným hráčům a hráčkám.
Czech para badminton players are also playing in the international tournament in Spain the week before this event. We are also preparing training camps for selected athletes. All indications are that next year the Czech Para Badminton Open could be on the BWF (Badminton World Federation) calendar. In summer we will organize again the traditional international summer camp in Rousínov near Brno with our colleagues Badminton Sharks Brno. If you are interested in parabadminton, visit the website parabadminton.cz and find a section that is open to disabled players.
