Report from Sports Director

Women Futsal Champs - Germany
Women Futsal Champs - Germany
Men Futsal Champs - Ukraine
Men Futsal Champs - Ukraine
Men Futsal Runner Up - Thailand
Men Futsal Runner Up - Thailand
Mark Perry, Lynn Parker, Mark Bullock, Josef Willmerdinger
Mark Perry, Lynn Parker, Mark Bullock, Josef Willmerdinger
2007 is reaching its end and winter is appearing nearly everywhere. I wish you all a happy holiday season!

We have 7 World Championships to pull through in 2008 so it will be a lot of responsibility:

Martial Arts
Table Tennis
Football
Volleyball
Wrestling
Athletics
Golf

21-26 May
1-12 June
1-12 July
1-10 August
14-22 September
22-28 September
28 September - 4 October

Toulouse, FRA
Sofia, BUL
Patras, GRE
Buenos Aires, ARG
Yerevan, ARM
Izmir, TUR
Perth, AUS

 

 

 

 

I wish all hosts the best of luck in making all games to be well organised and successful.

Badminton
The World Deaf Badminton Championships took place on the 28th of September till the 07th of October 2007 in Mühlheim/Germany. This was the 1st World Deaf Badminton Team Championships, holding 13 competing teams. Surprisingly, Russia won the Team Championship. The runner up is Japan, followed by Lithuania as third place. The anticipated stars from Great Britain with Superstar Rajeev Bagga only managed fourth place.

The 2nd World Deaf Badminton Individual Championship also took place this year. 21 countries with a total of 101 participants and 59 officials attended the event. In the category men solo the star Rajeev Bagga from Great Britain won the title, the equivalent for the ladies Kristina Dovydaityte from Lithuania mastered the title easily. Mika Hiwatari and Mio Inoue from Japan succeeded the 1st place in the ladies-double with nerves like steel; the men-double was won by Cheang Hock Teh and Kok Fang Yeo from Malaysia, who have played together for quite a while now, and they know how to support each other. The mixed double was won by Alena Pavlova together with Artemy Karpov from Russia.

I would like to make my reference to Rajeev Bagga, for his fairness, which is a very important part of his game. He is also a role model as a sportsman and always friendly to his opponents, referees and welcomed by his surrounding at all times. Not to be forgotten is also that he has never been defeated since his first game of Badminton at the World Games for the Deaf in New Zealand in 1989 to this very day, 19 years later. This fact deserves high regards!

My deep respect to the organizers of the German Deaf Sports Federation (DGS). They have managed the games in a very professional way. I would also like to mention the Dutch team from LiveScore, Tournamentsoftware, who implemented that all matches could be viewed and followed online in real time. The timing and schedule of all games also matched each other perfectly.

At the end of the World Deaf Badminton Championships the traditional competition of the continents (Europe against Asia) took place. All in all we had a lot of exciting matches, for the opponents were only high class. In the end Europe succeeded Asia with 14:10.

Futsal
From the 8th to the 18th of November 2007 the first ladies championship and the second championship for men was held in Sofia / Bulgaria. The women had 10 teams and the men had 20 teams for the World Deaf Futsal Championships. The fabulous German team won against the Russian team deservingly by 3:2. The third runner up is Great Britain, but only after the penalty shooting against the Norwegians by 5:3 (the regular scoring 3:3)

In the men’s team Ukraine won against Thailand with 3:2. My opinion is that this was the best match of the tournament. It was fantastic to watch the teams’ enthusiasm and their great techniques. They both deserved to be in the final. Also exciting to see was the battle for the third and forth place. Italy only won by extra time by 2:2 against Russia through the penalty shot by 5:3.

International Tennis Federation (ITF) London
I visited the International Tennis Federation headquater in London from the 6th – 8th of December 2007. I am looking for a good and close teamwork between ICSD and ITF. The Motto was "Possible partnerships between ITF and the International Deaf Tennis". Also attending this meeting was Mark Perry from GB Deaf Tennis. He was our consultant and guide and his experience and advice had come in very handy for us. Mark Bullock, ITF Head Office, London, Wheelchair Development Officer was our contact person, just as Lynn Parker, the British Tennis Foundation and Head of National Disability Tennis. Our discussions have been very positive, so that we can hope for a very good cooperation in the near future.

New Tennis Technical Director
I am pleased to inform you that Tobias Burz of Germany, is our new Technical Director for Tennis. Shortly after the Dresse and Maere Cup 2007 in Munich, Guido Giovanetti our former Technial Director of Tennis made his decison to step aside. We want to thank Guido for his work with ICSD for the last few years and are pleased to be able to find a replacement quickly. Therefore, I would like to thank the German Deaf Sports Federation for their support, as well as I send my best wishes to Tobias Burz.

Regards,

Josef Willmerdinger
ICSD Sports Director

By Josef Willmerdinger