Para-badminton is a variant of

badminton Badminton is a racquet sport played using racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net. Although it may be played with larger teams, the most common forms of the game are "singles" (with one player per side) and "doubles" (with two players pe ...

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 Federation (PBWF) until a unanimous decision to join BWF during a meeting in

Dortmund Dortmund (; Westphalian nds, Düörpm ; la, Tremonia) is the third-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne and Düsseldorf, and the eighth-largest city of Germany, with a population of 588,250 inhabitants as of 2021. It is the la ...

in June 2011.

Classification

Players are classified to six different classes determined by BWF:

Wheelchair

* WH1
Players in this class are those who have impairment in both lower limbs and trunk function and require wheelchair to play * WH2
Players have impairment in one or both lower limbs and minimal or no impairment of the trunk and also require wheelchair

Standing

* SL3
Players have impairment in one or both lower limbs and poor walking/running balance * SL4
Players have impairment in one or both lower limbs and minimal impairment in walking/running balance (better walking/running compared to SL3) * SU5
Players have impairment of the upper limbs.

Short stature

* SH6
Players in this class have short stature caused by

achondroplasia Achondroplasia is a genetic disorder with an autosomal dominant pattern of inheritance whose primary feature is dwarfism. In those with the condition, the arms and legs are short, while the torso is typically of normal length. Those affected ha ...

or other genetic conditions.

Competitions

BWF organizes the bi-annual Para-badminton World Championships in odd numbered years and continental championships in even numbered years. Para-badminton also features in other multi sports events like the Asian Para Games and

ASEAN Para Games The ASEAN Para Games is a biennial multi-sport event held after every Southeast Asian Games involving disabled athletes from the current 11 Southeast Asia countries. Participating athletes have a variety of disabilities ranging from spastic, ce ...

. Para-badminton will also feature at the 2020 Paralympic Games in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

, together with

taekwondo ''Taekwondo'', ''Tae Kwon Do'' or ''Taekwon-Do'' (; ko, 태권도/跆拳道 ) is a Korean form of martial arts involving punching and kicking techniques, with emphasis on head-height kicks, spinning jump kicks, and fast kicking techniques. T ...

which is also added to the Paralympic program.

References

{{IPC-recognised paralympic sports Paralympic sports