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The EPYG sitting volleyball tournament cancelled
Unfortunately the sitting volleyball tournament of the European Para Youth Games at Pajulahti is cancelled. There were only two teams participating so the Local Organising Committee of the Games together with Paravolley Europe and European Paralympic Committee decided to cancel the event.
There will still be eight sports – athletics, swimming, boccia, goalball, table tennis, wheelchair basketball, judo and showdown – in the EPYG. The Games will be held from 27th of June to 4th of July 2022 in the Pajulahti Olympic & Paralympic Training Center in Lahti, Finland.
EPYG22 biggest event in EPYG history
Pajulahti will host the biggest European Para Youth Games so far
Pajulahti Olympic and Paralympic Training Center will host the European Para Youth Games for the second time in summer 2022. As the deadline for the first entries passed in December it is already clear that next summer’s event will be the biggest European Para Youth Games so far.
According the first entries there are already 711 participants from 22 European countries. Total of 459 of those participants are athletes. A few countries have informed the organizers that they’ll tell their participant numbers in few weeks. That means the total participant number will rise above 800, the number of participating countries will be more than 25 and there will be more than 500 athletes. In the EPYG 2019 – also arranged in Pajulahti – there were 600 participants from which 350 were athletes.
The organizing committee of EPYG 2022 confirms it is still possible to send late entries during the first weeks of year 2022.
”As the first entries came in we were delighted to notice that there is a strong need for this type of event for young para athletes around the continent! I’m sure that the positive experiences from the previous EPYG arranged in Pajulahti encouraged most of the countries to send bigger teams this time around. This gives us a huge boost to carry on with our preparations for this unique event”, says Tero Kuorikoski, the Secretary General of EPYG 2022.
The European Para Youth Games is a multi sport event. The sports in the EPYG 2022 are athletics, swimming, boccia, table tennis, goalball, wheelchair basketball, judo, sitting volleyball and showdown. Sitting volleyball is a new sport compared to the EPYG 2019. All the sports will be arranged in Pajulahti apart from athletics which will be held in the Rakokivi athletic field near Pajulahti and swimming which will be held in the Mäkelänrinne swimming hall in Helsinki.
”If you are interested in the future of the para sports in Europe there is no better opportunity than this event! The significance of the European Para Youth Games has been on the rise for years and it can be seen in those huge participating numbers from the big European countries. It is also great to see some of the smaller nations bringing athletes to Pajulahti”, says Riikka Juntunen, the chair of the EPYG 2022 organizing committee.
European Para Youth Games have been organized since 2011. The EPYG 2022 will be the sixth edition of the event and the biggest one so far. The EPYG 2022 will be held in the Pajulahti Olympic and Paralympic Training Center from 27th of June to 4th of July 2022.
INVITATION TO THE EUROPEAN PARA YOUTH GAMES 2022
Dear EPC Member Nations
On behalf of EPC and LOC of EPYG22 I would like to invite you to the European Paralympic Youth Games, EPYG, which will take place in Lahti, Finland on June 27th to July 4th, 2022.
The EPC hopes to see many of you taking part in this competition that offers a great experience about international competition for young athletes. For many athletes EPYG is the first international competition but to all athletes it is a big step towards becoming an elite athlete. Besides tough but fair competition EPYG is also the place to make many new friends and get to know athletes from different sports across Europe.
Attached you will find the invitation package including all necessary information as well as the first entry form. The LOC of EPYG22 is happy to help you with any matters related to the event.
Yours Sincerely,
TERJE JENTOFT ROEL
Acting President EPC
******
Pajulahti Olympic and Paralympic Training Center welcomes the best youth para-athletes across Europe to compete and to achieve new personal bests during European Para Youth Games 27.6.–4.7.2022.
Eight out of nine sports venues are located in Pajulahti or in close neighborhood, only swimming is organized in Mäkelänrinne Swimming Center in Helsinki. We want to offer the best possible venues to all the athletes who will be competing during EPYG 2022. Pajulahti has been home of Paralympic sports in Finland more than 10 years and during that time several competitions have been organized. We will use all our expertise in order to make these games unique and memorable.
Every athlete knows that you don’t win alone. Organizing games is also team sport. Partners, officials, everybody who is involved in organizing the event – we will do our best during EPYG!
RIIKKA JUNTUNEN,
Chair of LOC,
General Secretary of
Finnish Paralympic Committee
** The official invitation package has been sent to all EPC Member Nations.
European Para Youth Games return to Finland
Finland will be hosting the European Para Youth Games for the second time. The event takes place at Pajulahti Olympic and Paralympic Training Center from 27th of June to 4th of July, 2022.
At this Multi-sport competition the young para-athletes will compete in nine different sports: athletics, swimming, boccia, table tennis, goalball, wheelchair basketball, judo, sitting volleyball and showdown. Finland and Pajulahti hosted EPYG even in 2019.
Swimming will be organized in Mäkelänrinne swim center in Helsinki and all the other sports will be organized in Pajulahti. Sitting volleyball will be a new sport in the 2022 competition program. In 2019 more than 600 athletes, coaches and team staff from 27 different European countries participated in the event. A larger number of participants will be expected in the 2022 competitions.
Tero Kuorikoski, director of the Pajulahti Olympic and Paralympic Training Center, is looking forward to a high-quality event.
The fact that we will host the event for the second time in a row is the best possible feedback of the 2019 Games from the European para family to Finland. We were also able to learn a lot and now we are ready to make this upcoming event even better. We hope that we will see many teams from Europe again in Pajulahti, says Kuorikoski.
Riikka Juntunen, Secretary General of the Finnish Paralympic Committee says it is important that young Finnish para-athletes get to experience a high-level competition in their home country.
-This is a great opportunity to our young athletes to compete in a high-level international competition. At the same time, it is great to be able to continue the good work that has been done in Pajulahti in international competitions in the past.
Athletes from EPYG 2019 competed in Tokyo 2020
At least ten young athletes from EPYG 2019 competed in Tokyo Paralympics 2020.
Nader Khalili, Finland, swimming.
Aino Tapola, Finland, table tennis
Misha Palazzo, Italy, swimming.
Matteo Parenzan, Italy, swimming.
Tatyana Lebrun, Belgium, swimming.
Nora Korneliussen, Norway, table tennis.
Ida-Louise Øverland, Norway, athletics.
Fabian Diehm, Germany, goalball.
Diogo Cancela, Portugal, swimming.
Typhaine Solde, France, athletics.
Hopefully we will see some of them again in Finland next summer and in addition to them a lot of new future Paralympic stars.
Finland’s midnight sun finally set on Sunday night as the European Para Youth Games 2019 came to an end, following 3 closely fought competition days of 8 sports. The final medal table was topped by Germany with 19 Gold, 14 Silver and 14 Bronze medals.
EPYG2019 hosted at the Pajulahti Olympic and Paralympic Training center from the 25-30th June, was the fifth and largest edition of the Games to date with almost 600 participants from 27 countries.
The Games were loved by athletes and spectators alike and delivered fantastic highlights, including a World Record in the W20 F64. The memorable event ended with EPC President Ratko Kovacic declaring at the closing ceremony that EPYG 2019 was ‘the best games ever’ hosted.
Overseen by the European Paralympic Committee, the European Paralympic Youth Games are seen as an introductory international event for many aspiring para athletes, with the combination of new and rising stars in the Paralympic movement leading to an exciting competition for athletes and spectators alike. Conceived in 2011, the Games are part of the Committee’s aim to develop the Paralympic Movement by creating a platform to inspire young European athletes aged 13-23 to take part in Paralympic Sport and begin their Paralympic journey.
The 2019 edition of the Games included eight sports: athletics, boccia, goalball, judo, showdown (demonstration sport), swimming, table tennis and wheelchair basketball.
The Pajulahti Olympic and Paralympic Training Center, Finland’s only Olympic AND Paralympic Training Center, is fa- mous for its elite athlete training facilities and conveniently located accommodation services, all surrounded by beautiful Finnish nature and located on the shores of a fresh water lake. During EPYG 2019 the Training Center was transformed into an Athletes Village and utilised all of Pajulahti’s facilities as Training/Competition venues, with Swimming and Athletics taking place at external venues.
NPC Finland, Pajulahti Olympic and Paralympic Training Center and Finnish Sports Association of Persons with Disabilities (VAU) were responsible for organizing the event. Also Finnish Sport Federations and regional sports clubs were involved in the event and were a determinate support for each discipline and provided technicians. Every sport and venue worked as an independent structure based on two sport directors, one from Pajulahti Olympic and Paralympic Training Center and one from Sport Federation. (Aquatics Finland, Finnish Athletics, Basketball Finland, Finnish Table Tennis Federation, Finnish Judo Association and Sport Association of Persons with Disabilities)
