Snowy Tallinn is going to host year’s first Badminton Europe Circuit tournament again, with high number of players Estonian International has never seen. Over 260 players are participating, including full draw for MS (88 players) and for WS (56 players). Also the longest flags bar is going to be under the venue ceiling – players from 35 national associations are intended to be in Tallinn this week.

We are sorry, that there is lot of MS and WS players on waiting lists now and we can’t offer them possibility to play.

The referee of the tournament is Aengus Sheerin from Ireland. The deputy referees are Artur Zalužhnõi and Tarmo Marandi from Estonia. Side by side Estonian umpires there will be umpires from Austria, Belgium, Czech, Denmark, England, France, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Sweden and Switzerland. 

The tournament will be held in the Sports Hall Kalev, located in the very center of Tallinn. The official hotel of the event is Radisson Blu Hotel Olümpia less than 0,5 km away from the venue. The place of venue as well as the hotel is familiar to those who attended the same event three years and year ago. The official points of arrival are the Lennart Meri Tallinn Airport, Tallinn Passenger Seaport as well as the Central railway and bus stations. Fragmented town-plan, available on the Internet site www.badminton.ee - Estonian International, can be handy for those visiting Tallinn for the first time.

Thanks to Yonex support we are able to offer 6 top-quality playing courts. The positioning of playing courts is somewhat different from the ordinary layout - due to the fixed lightening the courts are located in 2 parallel rows. The venue layout can be found on the Internet site www.badminton.ee - Estonian International. During the event there will be at least 2 warm up courts available next to the tournament courts.

The time schedule of the event is the following:

- Qualification rounds, held in Men’s Singles, Women’s Singles, Men’s Doubles and Mixed Doubles, starts on Thursday, January 12 at 10:00 AM on six courts. The planned end of the first tournament day will be at 7:00 PM.
 
- Main tournament starts on Friday, January 13 at 9:00 AM on six courts. The planned end of the day will be at 9:30 PM.

- Quarterfinals will start on Saturday, January 15 at 10:00 AM on four courts and Semifinals at 4:00 PM on 2 courts.
 
- Finals will start on Sunday, January 16 at 10:00 AM. In Men’s and Women’s Singles also the 3rd places are played out. The planned end of Finals, 3rd place matches and the prize giving ceremonies are at 3:00 PM.

We wish to all participants’ safe and on-time arrival and many successes in the tournament. As the outdoor temperature during the event is predicted to be below zero and there is snow we suggest you to dress accordingly. Please be careful on your way to the venue, as the pedestrians can be slippery because of very quick weather changes. Please schedule a bit more time than you usually plan on half kilometer walking trip between venue and hotel. 

Click here to see the draw of the Yonex Estonian International
Click here to see the recent championships of the tournament

Press release by Badminton Estonia, Photo by BadmintonPhoto