LEUVEN – From Wednesday September 10th until Saturday September 13th the international badminton is showing up in the Belgian city of Leuven. Badminton Vlaanderen organizes the 10th edition of the Yonex Belgian International in the Sportoase.

The anniversary edition of the Yonex Belgian International contains a lot of top players in the field. “The event has built quite a reputation over the last few years”, mentions tournament director Bart Verschueren. “Furthermore, the Yonex Belgian International is one of the first tournaments to implement the experimental scoring system 5x11. A lot of players come to Leuven especially to test the new proposed system.”

The 2014 Yonex Belgian International welcomes players from 30 different countries. Belgian spectators can cheer for their own top players such as Yuhan and Lianne Tan, Freek Golinski and Matijs Dierickx. The draw was scheduled on Thursday September 2nd and from then on the players could mentally prepare themselves towards their first opponents.

Zwiebler, Vittinghus and ... Peter Gade

Important names to keep an eye on are Hans-Kristian Vittinghus (n° 8 in the world) and former European Champion Marc Zwiebler, who has won the tournament three times in the past. The duo Kim Astrup and Anders Skaarup, who set the Sportoase on fire last year, are back in action this year. The demo match between European icon Peter Gade and our the Belgian number one shuttler Yuhan Tan, will bring even more extravaganza between the finals.



Click here for all previous champions of the #YBI14

The Yonex Belgian International is not the only major badminton event in the Sportoase Leuven in the near future. The 2015 European Mixed Team Championships in February 2015 will played in the city very close to Brussels. “Only the top 12 countries can participate”, Bart Verschueren says. “Belgium, Germany, Russia, England and Denmark already qualified. Other countries still have to play qualification matches to conquer their place at the 2015 European Mixed Team Championships.”

BETV is covering the event via YouTube. Please subscribe to our channel by clicking here.

Click here for the draw of the #YBI14 and live-score.

Article by Tamara Geeraerts. Photos by BadmintonPhoto.