The Badminton World Federation (BWF) is delighted to announce that Para badminton is one of the 22 sports that will form part of the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games sports programme.
The announcement was made official at an International Paralympic Committee (IPC) Governing Board meeting in London on Friday. The IPC confirmed that the sports programme for the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics would remain unchanged for Paris 2024.
Para badminton will make its debut as a Paralympic sport at Tokyo 2020, with a total of 90 players competing in singles, doubles and mixed doubles events across six sport classes.
BWF President Poul-Erik Høyer said yesterday’s announcement would help secure the growth of the sport beyond Tokyo 2020.
“This is fantastic news for our players and wider badminton community that we have been accepted into Paris 2024 as we will be part of the Paralympic Games cycle for another four years,” Høyer said.
“The decision provides us with a great opportunity to build upon all the hard work that has been done in the lead up to Tokyo 2020 and continue to create awareness of the sport and our development initiatives for the foreseeable future.
“France, like Japan, has a strong link to Para badminton and we look forward to our athletes being able to showcase the sport on the highest stage.”
Action from the Australia Para-Badminton International 2018.
The sport’s inclusion in both Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024 Paralympic Games is recognition of its global growth.
International Para badminton tournaments have been held since the 1990s and the first World Championships were staged in the Netherlands in 1998, while the game is now played in more than 60 countries across five continents.
There are 11 international tournaments this year serving as qualifying events for Tokyo 2020, including the Para-Badminton World Championships 2019 in Basel, Switzerland, and the Japan Para-Badminton International 2019, which doubles up as the official test event for the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games.
BWF Vice President Para Badminton, Paul Kurzo – a former wheelchair badminton player and an instrumental figure in Para badminton’s development – said the sport’s inclusion at Paris 2024 was a culmination of a lot of hard work by many parties.
“I am very proud that Para badminton is completely integrated with the BWF and that our inclusion at Paris 2024 is a result of our ‘one sport – one team’ approach, bringing together the whole badminton family,” he said.
“The BWF thanks the IPC for the consideration and good cooperation in the past, and we look forward to this relationship evolving in the coming years.”
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