The 11th edition of the European Seniors Championships kicked-off today in the Portuguese city of Caldas da Rainha. The city has 50.000 inhabitants and is located in western central Portugal in the historical province of Estremadura. The tournament is held at the High Performance Center of Badminton Portugal. There are 1.050 matches to be played over 7 days from 21-27 September.

Numerical the biggest event of Badminton Europe

Among the 803 participants from 31 countries are world champion Jesper Helledie (Denmark), who won the men's doubles gold medal with partner Steen Fladberg in 1983, former world class player Julie Bradbury (England) and former All-England champion (1994) Nick Ponting (England).

Organised by Badminton Europe every second year, the European Senior Championships are open to male and female players from over-35s to over-70s. The tournament will be played using the current scoring system (3 games to 21) and not the experimental system of 5 games to 11.

Donate your badminton equipment to help people in the Balkan region

Badminton Europe's Equipment Donation Program will take place at the European Senior Championships! If you have any equipment still in relatively good condition & would like to help those without any badminton gear, please drop them off at the tournament. We will make sure they reach someone who'll appreciate it! Find more information on the donation programme here.

Previous hosts of the event:

1995 Hillerød (Denmark)
1997 Gateshead (England)
1999 Innsbruck (Austria)
2001 Sofia (Bulgaria)
2002 Radebeul (Germany)
2004 Almuñécar (Spain)
2006 Amersfoort (The Netherlands)
2008 Punta Umbria (Spain)
2010 Dundalk (Ireland)
2012 Sofia (Bulgaria)

Photos will be published on our dedicated facebook page.

For all the latest draws and results from the 2014 event click here.