The Greece national badminton team (Greek: Εθνική ομάδα Αντιπτέρισης της Ελλάδας) represents Greece in international badminton team competitions.[1] The team is controlled by the Hellenic Badminton Federation, the governing body for badminton in Greece. Greece made their first appearance in the Sudirman Cup in 1997.

At the European stage, Greece has hosted the first edition of the European Men's and Women's Team Badminton Championships in 2006 which granted the national men's and women's team qualification. The team have yet to qualify for the European Mixed Team Badminton Championships. The team also competed in the Helvetia Cup in 2003 and 2005 but did not reach the semi-finals.

Greece also competes in the Balkan Badminton Championships and has also made several bronze medal finishes at the Balkan Team Championships.

History

While badminton is said to have history that can be traced back to Ancient Greece, competitive badminton was unknown in the country until the early 1990s.[2][3] Following the formation of the Hellenic Badminton Federation on April 1993, Greek players began competing in international tournaments.[4][5][6]

Men's team

Greece first competed in qualifying for the 1998 Thomas Cup in Sandefjord. Placed in Group D with Belarus, Peru and the United States, the team lost all their matches 5–0 to their opponents and were eliminated in the first round.[7]

In 2006, Greece competed in the 2006 European Men's Team Badminton Championships and was placed into Group 5 with the Netherlands, Norway and Spain. The team lost 5–0 to all three teams and was eliminated in the group stages.[8] The team made another two appearances at the European Men's Team Championships in 2008 and 2010 but failed to advance to the knockout stages.[9]

Women's team

In 2004, Greece competed in the 2004 European Uber Cup Preliminaries. The team lost 5–0 to Iceland and Germany but managed to win a match in a 4–1 loss against the Norwegian women's team.[10] At the 2006 European Women's Team Badminton Championships, the team were eliminated in the group stages.

Mixed team

In 1990, the Greek mixed team competed in the invitational Balkan Cup tournament in Varna, Bulgaria. In the group stage, the team finished third in their group after losing to Romania and Yugoslavia, then placed sixth on the overall rankings after losing 10–0 to Malta.[11] In 1997, the team made their debut at the Sudirman Cup. The team defeated 4–1 to Lithuania, 5–0 to Estonia and 3–2 to Armenia but defeated Chile 5–0 to finish in 58th place.[12]

At the Balkan Championships in 2005, Greece finished in third place at the Balkan Championships for the first time after defeating Moldova 3–1 in the bronze medal match.[13] In 2009, the team reached the semi-finals of the Balkan Championships but lost 3–0 to Bulgaria.[14] In 2011, the team played in the semi-finals of the Balkan Championships against Turkey and almost qualified for the final but eventually lost 3–2 to their opponents.[15]

Competitive record

European Team Championships

Year Round Pos
1962
to
2001
Did not enter
2003 Group stage 16th
2005 Group stage 18th
2007 Did not enter

Balkan Badminton Championships

Mixed team

Year Round Pos
1992 Fourth place 4th
1993 Fourth place 4th
1995 Fourth place 4th
1997 Fourth place 4th
1998 Fourth place 4th
1999 Fifth place 5th
2000 Fourth place 4th
2001 Fourth place 4th
2002 Fourth place 4th
2003 Fifth place 5th
2004 Fifth place 5th
2005 Third place 3rd
2006 Did not enter
2007 Fourth place 4th
2008 Fourth place 4th
2009 Semi-finals 4th
2010 Did not enter
2011 Semi-finals 3rd
Group stage (Team B) 6th
2012 Group stage 7th
2013 Group stage 5th
2014 Semi-finals 4th
2016 Did not enter
2018 Semi-finals 4th
Group stage (Team B) 6th
**Red border color indicates tournament was held on home soil.

Junior competitive record

Suhandinata Cup

Year Round Pos
2000
to
2024
Did not enter
2025 To be determined

European Junior Team Championships

Mixed team

Year Round Pos
1975
to
2007
Did not enter
2009 Group stage 29th
2011 Did not enter
2013
2015 Group stage 31/32
2017 Did not enter
2018
2020
2022 Group stage 25/32
2024 To be determined

Finlandia Cup

Mixed team

Year Round Pos
1984
to
1996
Did not enter
1998 Group stage 22nd
2000 Did not enter
2002 Group stage 12th
2004 Did not enter
2006

Balkan Junior Team Championships

Mixed team

Year Round Pos
1992 Did not enter
1993
1994
1995 Fourth place 4th
1996 Third place 3rd
1997 Fourth place 4th
1998 Fourth place 4th
1999 Fifth place 5th
2000 Fifth place 5th
2001 Fourth place 4th
2002 Fourth place 4th
2004 Fifth place 5th
2005 Fifth place 5th
2006 Did not enter
2007 Semi-finals 4th
2008 Fourth place 4th
2010 Group stage 5th
Group stage (Team B) 6th
2011 Group stage 5th
2012 Fourth place 4th
2013 Fourth place 4th
2015 Group stage 5th
2016 Semi-finals 4th
2017 Semi-finals 3rd
2019 Did not enter
**Red border color indicates tournament was held on home soil.

Coaches

The following shows a list of coaches for the Greece national badminton team.

Current coaches

  • Greece Vasilis Xanthou (2004–present)[16]
  • Greece Alexandros Kantzoglou (2009–present)[17]
  • Greece Charalambos Iordanou
  • Greece Athena Hadjistyllis

Former coaches

  • Greece Panagiotis Goudentzikis (1991–2003)
  • Bulgaria Kesov Nenko (2003–2005)
  • Bulgaria Petar Dimov (2004–2012)

Players

Current squad

As of 2 January 2024

Men's team

Name DoB/Age Ranking of event
MS MD XD
Stamatis Tsigkirdakis (1992-10-16) 16 October 1992 (age 32) - - -
Marios Michail Boulios (2000-03-21) 21 March 2000 (age 24) - - -
Paschalis Melikidis (1998-10-30) 30 October 1998 (age 26) 1735 - -
Axilleas Tsartsidis (1996-10-20) 20 October 1996 (age 28) 1735 - -
Metzelos Sotiropoulos (2005-09-19) 19 September 2005 (age 19) - - -
Georgios Tsiolis (2002-02-23) 23 February 2002 (age 23) - - -

Women's team

Name DoB/Age Ranking of event
WS WD XD
Grammatoula Sotiriou (2002-04-18) 18 April 2002 (age 22) 311 - -
Theodora Lambrianidou (2002-02-14) 14 February 2002 (age 23) - - -
Antonia-Petroula Vlachantoni (2004-06-29) 29 June 2004 (age 20) - - -
Athanasia-Paulina Vlachantoni (2004-06-29) 29 June 2004 (age 20) - - -
Theodora Fragoulidou (2001-10-20) 20 October 2001 (age 23) 986 - -
Dimitra-Kalomira Kroystalli (2001-03-17) 17 March 2001 (age 23) - - -

References

  1. ^ Populorum, Mike. "Archiv SudirmanCup". sbg.ac.at. Retrieved 8 May 2019.
  2. ^  One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domainChisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Battledore and Shuttlecock". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 3 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 534.
  3. ^ "BADMINTON". Άνεμος Χανίων (in Greek). 2017-12-03. Retrieved 2025-02-11.
  4. ^ akikidis (2018-08-28). "Αντιπτέριση ή Μπάντμιντον ένα άθλημα με ιστορία χιλιάδων ετών". MegaraTV (in Greek). Retrieved 2025-02-11.
  5. ^ "Μπάντμιντον". www.sport24.gr (in Greek). Retrieved 2025-02-11.
  6. ^ "Παγκόσμιο Τουρνουά Badminton για πρώτη φορά στην Κρήτη | 18-21 Οκτωβρίου 2018". Επιμελητήριο Χανίων (in Greek). Retrieved 2025-02-11.
  7. ^ "IBF changes qualifying stage draws". www.worldbadminton.com. 1998-01-04. Retrieved 2025-02-11.
  8. ^ "Badminton: Teams overtuigend in ouvertures". volkskrant.nl. Retrieved 2025-02-11.
  9. ^ "Nederlandse badmintonners naar kwartfinale EK | Sport Overig". nu.nl. Retrieved 2025-02-11.
  10. ^ "SPORT". Trønder-Avisa. 2004-02-14. p. 25. Retrieved 2025-02-12.
  11. ^ World Badminton (PDF). Vol. 18 (2nd ed.). International Badminton Federation. p. 11.
  12. ^ "World Team Championships: Korea surprises Denmark in semis". worldbadminton.com. 23 May 1997. Retrieved 6 August 2020.
  13. ^ "Men's & Women's Balkan Badminton Championships 2005". badminton.gr. Archived from the original on 2006-02-13. Retrieved 2025-02-12.
  14. ^ "Uspeh na Balkanijadi u Bugarskoj". Badminton Savez Srbije (in rs-rs). Retrieved 2025-02-11.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link)
  15. ^ Team, Onsports (2011-10-25). "Μετάλλια στους Βαλκανικούς μπάντμιντον". Onsports.gr (in Greek). Retrieved 2025-02-11.
  16. ^ thanasis (2023-01-09). "Σχετικά με τον Εθνικό Μπάντμιντον". M.Γ.Σ ΕΘΝΙΚΟΣ ΑΛΕΞΑΝΔΡΟΥΠΟΛΗΣ (in Greek). Retrieved 2025-02-16.
  17. ^ "BEC - Development - COMEBA - Greece". development.badmintoneurope.com. Retrieved 2025-02-16.
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