The Austrian Badminton International tournament is now for the 6^th year in a row back in Vienna. The badminton fans in Austria are thrilled that such a huge amount of players entered for this Badminton European Circuit tournament. Nearly 300 badminton players from 48 nations and all continents, more than ever before, are looking forward to play in Vienna.

The RVBA’s Sarah Thomas fresh from the European Badminton team championships in Amsterdam last week plays Wednesday in the qualification event. In a very tough field Thomas plays against Polish opposition in her first round match followed by a tough game against Popstoykova from Bulgaria. This would be followed by Zvorc the qualification seed from Croatia.

You can hardly find any other sport event in Austria with so many participating countries. This fact can show the Austrians the worldwide importance of badminton. The biggest team attending the Austrian International Challenge 2011 is, not surprisingly, the Austrian team with 30 players, but the German team, with 28 entered players, is not much smaller. The Japanese team of 27 players is the third largest team and demonstrates that the tournament in Vienna attracts players from all over the world.

In the last years most of the titles were won by Asian athletes as in 2010 they have won four out of the five events. The qualification will start on Wednesday 23^rd at 12:00 p.m. local time. The tournament will start with the Mixed Doubles. In the Men’s Singles 64 players will have to give their best to reach the main draw. The main draw will start on Thursday 24^th at 12:00 p.m. The Semifinals will take place on Saturday 26^th at 10:00 a.m. and the Finals will be held on Saturday 26^th at 5 p.m.

The court number 3 will be the TV court and the matches can be watched on BADMINTONEUROPE.TV for free after registration.