Para-badminton championships to come to Geelong

BADMINTON Oceania, Badminton Australia and Badminton Geelong have announced that the Australian Para-Badminton International and Oceania Para-Badminton Championships – the first Badminton World Federation sanctioned para-badminton events in Australia – will be held in Geelong later this year.

The November 20-29 event at the Leisuretime Centre will welcome more than 150 athletes, team officials, event administrators, and volunteers from all around the world.

“Badminton Geelong Inc. (BGI) is honoured to be hosting the 2018 Australian Para-Badminton International and Oceania Para-Badminton Championships,” Badminton Geelong development officer Craig Booley said.

“BGI has a proud history of hosting local and national events and is extremely excited to add this international event to the list.

“We look forward to welcoming the world’s best para athletes to our region.”

The Australian Para-Badminton International (November 20-25) is an open event which offers world ranking points. This event will have international classifiers on-site to classify athletes competing in their first international competition.

The Oceania Para-Badminton Championships (November 26-29) is a closed event sanctioned by the Badminton World Federation. This event is a Continental Championship hosted every two years, and is restricted to players from Oceania member countries.

Badminton is an Olympic, Paralympic, and Commonwealth Games sport.

Para-Badminton caters for people with physical disabilities and will be an official sport for the first time at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games.

Para-badminton athletes compete in men’s and women’s singles, men’s and women’s doubles and mixed doubles.

Athletes are classified into six classes to ensure fairness in competition.