Billesley Indoor Tennis & Fitness Centre did Birmingham proud as the host venue of the recent tennis tournament in this year’s multi-sport International Blind Sports Federation (IBSA) World Games – which ran from 23 to 27August.
All those associated with this year’s games were welcome to the host city of Birmingham with open arms for the Blind World Games, an even first staged in Madrid in 1998 that has become the world’s biggest sports event for athletes with visual impairments. It features a range of sporting disciplines from archery to football and judo to tenpin bowling.
Events took place across the city, while Billesley held the tennis tournament. Tennis as a sport for visually impaired (VI) athletes is growing – with a VI competition added to this year’s Australian Open – so this was a great time for the centre to be in the spotlight.
The centre, on Wheelers Lane, saw around 70 players from across the globe take part, benefitting from top-class facilities, plus the site’s ‘refreshed’ look along with additional improvements to enable the facility to meet international event standards.
Head Tennis Coach for Billesley, Stuart Seery said:
“We were thrilled that Billesley Indoor Tennis & Fitness Centre was selected to host the tennis tournament at this year’s IBSA World Games. It was a remarkable opportunity to not only highlight our commitment to inclusive and diverse sporting events, but also offer our state-of-the-art facilities to blind athletes, and allow them to showcase their skills and compete on an international platform. It was a great success, and it was an honour to welcome participants and spectators – witnessing the incredible spirit and sportsmanship of the world’s top blind tennis players at our venue.”
Billesley Indoor Tennis & Fitness Centre is managed by the Birmingham Community Leisure Trust in partnership with Serco Leisure, and on behalf of Birmingham City Council.
