Denmark – more specific the city of Vejle – is hosting the 2015 ITTF Para Table Tennis European Championships. It was announced this weekend at the European Championships in Lignano, Italy.
The City of Vejle, EliteVejle, Sport Event Denmark, the Danish Table Tennis Association and the Danish Sports Organization for the Disabled had jointly applied to host the 2015 ITTF Para Table Tennis European Championships. The application, which was headlined “Integrating the World of Table Tennis”, emphasises on strengthening the international cooperation between table tennis and para table tennis – a collaboration that in Denmark is well advanced and which among other things has resulted in joint national team training.
The Danes are actually use to hosting major international sports events including para events and the 2015 ITTF Para Table Tennis European Championships will provide yet another great opportunity to experience disability sport at the highest international level in Denmark.
– Denmark won in two sets at this year’s European Championships in para table tennis. With two European championship gold medals for Peter Rosenmeier and the hosting of the 2015 ITTF Para Table Tennis European Championships we can look forward to another major international championship in Denmark in para sport, says Lars Lundov, CEO of Sport Event Denmark, and refers to, among others, the 2011 UCI Para-cycling Road World Championships, the 2013 FEI Para Dressage European Championships and the 2014 IWRF Wheelchair Rugby World Championships.
Enhance of integration
Also the director of the Danish Table Tennis Association Dorte Darfelt is looking forward to the event:
– We are proud to host the 2015 ITTF Para Table Tennis European Championships. We focus a lot on the integration and, in doing so, what would be better than showing Denmark and the Danes, how fascinating and professional para table tennis is.
The Danish hosting also gives the opportunity for Denmark’s best para table tennis player, Peter Rosenmeier, to defend his newly won European titles in class 6 at home. And it can have an impact in more than one sense, predicts Paralympic Sports Director at the Danish Sports Organization for the Disabled Michael Moellgaard Nielsen:
– Denmark sets a very high standard for the international championships, not least thanks to Sport Event Denmark, and moreover it is of course a great opportunity to be able to offer both our own players and other European top players such a professional setup that we plan to do. It is also important for the visibility and recruitment of new athletes, that the Danes have the opportunity to see disability sport at the highest international level also at other times than during the Paralympics.
Facts
Elite Vejle, in collaboration with the City of Vejle, Sport Event Denmark , Danish Table Tennis Union and DHIF been awarded the hosting of the European Championships in para table tennis, to be held in October 2015.
The Danish players have just won three medals at this year’s European Championships held in Lignano, Italy, from September 26 to October 5 2013. Peter Rosenmeier won gold in singles in Class 6, Sophie Walloe won bronze in singles in Class 10, and Peter Rosenmeier and Brian Nielsen won gold in the team competition in class 6.