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Debutants thrive as Spanish Para Badminton International begins Tuesday, 11 May 2021
Former Palma de Mallorca professional footballer Ruben Nova Fernandez was among several new Para badminton players making their international debuts today as the Spanish Para Badminton International - the final Paralympic qualifying event - started in Cartagena.
Fernandez’s football career was ended by a motorbike accident last year, but he has launched himself into a new sporting career and today the home player secured a comfortable 21-12, 21-10 victory over Lukas Kyncl of the Czech Republic in the opening round of men s WH1 Group A.
Fernandez told the Badminton World Federation website: It’s my first international match, I’ve just been classified.
Monday, 10 May 2021
The Spanish Para Badminton International, the final qualifying event for Tokyo 2020, where the sport makes its Paralympic debut, gets underway in Cartagena tomorrow.
The event will run until Sunday (May 16) and feature men’s and women’s singles, men’s and women’s doubles and mixed doubles.
A total of 157 players from 36 countries have arrived in the maritime enclave town ahead of competition at the Palacio de los Deportes de Cartagena.
Top seeds include France s world number six WH1 men s singles player David Toupe, Switzerland’s Karin Suter-Erath in women s singles WH1 and Indonesian SL4 women’s singles world champion Leani Ratri Oktila, as they continue to gather ranking points and match play in the run-up to the Paralympics.
African Para badminton champion and Tokyo 2020 hopeful dies
African Para badminton champion Bello Rafiu Oyebanji has been killed in a traffic collision.
The Nigerian SL4 player won three gold medals at the 2018 African Para Badminton Championships and was also a member of the Badminton World Federation (BWF) Para Badminton Athletes Commission.
Bello was hoping to qualify for Tokyo 2020, where badminton is due to make its Paralympic debut, and was due to play at the Spanish Para Badminton International in Cartagena - the last qualification tournament - next month.
Nigeria News Agency reports that Bello died while traveling home from Lagos, where he was visiting the Spanish Embassy to obtain a visa for the tournament.
BWF confirms dates of final Para-badminton qualifier for Tokyo 2020 Wednesday, 3 February 2021
The Spanish Para Badminton International - the sport’s last qualification tournament for the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games - is scheduled to be held in May, it has been announced.
The Badminton World Federation (BWF) confirmed the event will run from May 10 to 16 after revealing its Para-badminton calendar for 2021.
Cartagena was originally due to stage the competition in March last year only for it to be cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Since then, no international Para-badminton tournaments have been held hampering athletes’ preparations for the rescheduled Tokyo 2020 Games where the sport will make its long-awaited Paralympic debut.