Karin Suter-Erath (born 24 November 1970) is a

Swiss Swiss may refer to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina *Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses *Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports *Swiss Internation ...

para badminton Para-badminton is a variant of badminton for athletes with a range of physical disabilities. Badminton World Federation (BWF) is the main governing body for para-badminton starting from June 2011. The sport was governed by Para Badminton World Fede ...

player and a former

wheelchair tennis Wheelchair tennis is one of the forms of tennis adapted for wheelchair users. The size of the court, net height and rackets are the same, but there are two major differences from pedestrian tennis: athletes use specially designed wheelchairs, a ...

player. Suter-Erath was a very keen

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball or Olympic handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of throwing it into the g ...

and

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

player when aged 13 and played in European handball leagues from the ages of 17 to 27. She studied

physical education Physical education, often abbreviated to Phys Ed. or P.E., is a subject taught in schools around the world. It is usually taught during primary and secondary education, and encourages psychomotor learning by using a play and movement explorati ...

at university and became a secondary school teacher once she graduated. In 1997, Suter-Erath was paralysed from the waist down in an accident which caused her to stop playing handball. While in rehab in

Nottwil Nottwil is a municipality in the district of Sursee in the canton of Lucerne in Switzerland. History Nottwil is first mentioned around 1217-22 as ''Nottewile''. In 1275 it was mentioned as ''Otewile''. Nottwil is also the location where th ...

, she tried out wheelchair tennis and when she completed her rehab then she took the sport up professionally. In 2004, Suter-Erath teamed up with

Sandra Kalt Sandra Salzgeber (also known as Sandra Kalt) is a Swiss wheelchair tennis player. She represented Switzerland at the 2004 Summer Paralympics. She won the bronze medal together with Karin Suter-Erath Karin Suter-Erath (born 24 November 1970) i ...

and competed in the

2004 Summer Paralympics ) , nations = 136 , athletes = 3,806 , events = 519 in 19 sports , opening = 17 September , closing = 28 September , opened_by = President Costis Stephanopoulos , cauldron = Georgios Toptsis , stadium = Olympic ...

and won their first ever Paralympic medal in the women's doubles. From 2005 to 2007, she reached to world number six and was voted as Basel's Athlete of the Year alongside

Roger Federer Roger Federer (; born 8 August 1981) is a Swiss former professional tennis player. He was ranked List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players#Weeks at No. 1, world No. 1 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 310 weeks, in ...

and

FC Basel Fussball Club Basel 1893, widely known as FC Basel, FCB, or just Basel, is a Swiss football club based in Basel, in the Canton of Basel-Stadt. Formed in 1893, the club has been Swiss national champions 20 times, Swiss Cup winners 13 times, and ...

a year later. As well as being very successful in wheelchair tennis, she took up para badminton and won a silver medal in the women's doubles at the 2010 Para Badminton European Championships in

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

then won eight medals in the

BWF Para-Badminton World Championships The Para-Badminton World Championships is an individual bi-annual event organized by the BWF. The highest ranked para-badminton players compete in six Sport Classes in five categories. The championships was organized under Para Badminton World Fe ...

and twelve medals in the European championships.

Wheelchair tennis statistics

Paralympic Games

Para-badminton statistics

World Championships

''Women's singles'' ''Women's doubles'' ''Mixed doubles''

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Suter-Erath, Karin 1970 births Living people People with paraplegia Swiss female badminton players Swiss para-badminton players Swiss female tennis players Wheelchair tennis players Paralympic badminton players for Switzerland Paralympic wheelchair tennis players for Switzerland Paralympic medalists in wheelchair tennis Paralympic bronze medalists for Switzerland Wheelchair tennis players at the 2004 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2004 Summer Paralympics Badminton players at the 2020 Summer Paralympics Sportspeople from Basel-Stadt 21st-century Swiss women