On the weekend of the 24^th and 25^th of May, around a hundred athletes from the countries of  Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Holland, Germany, France, United Kingdom and Hungary competed in the first European Speedminton® Championships sponsored by the Federation of Small Businesses in the Liverpool Tennis Centre.

With cool music in the background around a 100 visitors each day could witness the finest talents in this new exciting racquet sport. Food for the participants was provided by Ragga Catering and each player received free water during the tournament. The Euro-Championships were played in 5 categories comprising of Men's Senior Singles, Men's Singles, Women’s Singles, Boys’ Singles and Girls’ Singles.

The first round was played in group stages with the best two of each group qualifying for the knock out stages. The matches were decided by best of three games in the group and early knock out stages, the semi-finals and finals were played across the best of five games. Each game was played first to 16 points or decided by a two point advantage in the event of a tie break.

The Active City Junior Tournament had around 30 Boys and Girls fighting over the title. In the end Sophie Farrell won against Alice Taylor in the Girls' Singles Final. Connor Hitchmough managed to win against the slightly older Joe Wale to secure his title of Boys' Singles Champion.

The senior section had a grand finale between the Swedish player Hans Granberg and the German Uli Burkhardt. The match was decided in five breath taking games, with each player winning two games and Uli then winning the fifth.The third place was secured by Hagen Stange from Germany. 

In the Women’s Singles Final, the audience witnessed a thriller fought out by two fantastic German players, in the end Kerstin Klante from Hamburg won 2:1 against Swantje Bechstein from Berlin.The third place was won by Odett Elek from Hungary.

In the Men's Singles semi finals we saw players from Sweden, Denmark and Germany going through. The Men's Singles Final was the most exciting clash of talents the Speed Badminton community has witnessed so far. Per Hjalmarson from Sweden fought against Kristian Hansen from Denmark. Per managed to gain a record of 11 aces against his opponent, who managed only 2 perfect serves. The atmosphere was electric and each point was followed by thunderous applause from the enthusiastic crowd. In the end, Per became the first European Champion in the Men’s Singles Division after beating Kristian 3 games to 1. The third place in the Men's Singles was given to Guilllaume Batard and Uli Burkhardt.

Congratulations again to all Athletes!

Concrete Leisure would again like to thank all the volunteers from 08 who helped and did a great job.

Andrew Low and Ralf Ganza who are behind Concrete Leisure and Speedminton UK were delighted with the outcome and feedback received so far. They both feel that the tournament was a huge success and that without the help from the FSB as the Title Sponsor and the Liverpool Echo who helped to save the event, this wouldn’t have happened.

Norman Lay Chairman of the FSB Merseyside region:” We were pleased to have had the opportunity to sponsor a truly European Event in the Year of the Liverpool European capital of Culture. We are now looking forward to the British Open in Speed Badminton next year being held once again in Merseyside.”

Above the Competitors in the first European Speedminton Championships

Left to right: Hans Granberg (Sweden), Men's Senior Singles' Runner-Up; Alice Taylor (GB), Girls' Singles Runner-Up; Guillaume Batard (France), Men's Singles 3rd Place; Sophie Farrell (GB), Girls' Singles Champion; Uli Burkhardt (Germany), Men's Senior Singles Champion; Connor Hitchmough (GB), Boys' Singles Champion; Per Hjalmarson (Sweden), Men's Singles Champion; Kerstin Klante (Germany), Women's Singles Champion; Odett Elek (Hungary), Women's Singles 3rd Place; Swantje Bechstein (Germany), Women's Singles Runner-Up.