Para Badminton Technical Workshop held in Baku, Azerbaijan
February 9, 2026
It was Europe’s turn to host the Para Badminton Technical Workshop after Africa and Pan Am in previous years.
Following workshops in Cairo (Egypt) in 2023 and Acapulco (Mexico) in 2024, Baku in Azerbaijan hosted the workshop from 16-20 November 2025 which was attended by 13 Member Associations from Europe.
BWF delivered the workshop with the support of its key partners International Paralympic Committee (IPC), Badminton Europe, Azerbaijan Badminton Federation and Azerbaijan Paralympic Committee.
In keeping with BWF’s multi-tier approach to Para badminton development, the activity consisted of Disability Coach Workshop Level 1, Player Camp; National Level 1 Classifier Workshop, and National Administrators/Pathways Workshop.
The activity overall was attended by 43 participants, with eight experts handling the workshops.
The workshop sought to build expertise on multiple levels of Para badminton development.
“The idea is that, with this one activity, we’re giving each country all the building blocks that they need — all the key people they need — to start Para badminton development. They’ve got the classifiers, the coaches, the players, and they can go and start development,” said John Shearer, BWF Deputy Director Continental & Membership Development, who delivered the workshop for national administrators/pathways along with BWF Head of Tournament Development Fern Gilders and Badminton Europe’s Jeroen van Djik.
Perhaps the most unique aspect of the activity was that both the national badminton federation and the National Paralympic Committee were involved for the National Administrators/Pathways Workshop.
One of the significant developments of the camp was that three recently-trained tutors – Bartłomiej Mróz, Paniz Yousefi and Sonja Wåland– delivered the Disability Coaching workshop for the first time. All three had completed the BWF Disability Coaching Level 1 Tutor Training course in Dubai in June 2025. This was their first chance to deliver a workshop, and the successful presentations showed the progression they had made.
“The Workshop in Baku was amazing!” said Mróz. “I particularly enjoyed the opportunity to meet and work with people from different countries who share a common goal to develop Para badminton. It was a pleasure to share my knowledge with the coaches and I look forward to seeing Para badminton grow and develop across Europe.”
