Avni Kertmen

Avni Kertmen (born September 2, 1961 in Giresun , Turkey ) is a German badminton player of Turkish origin. The paraplegic athlete has won a total of 18 German titles and eight European and five world championships since 2000.

Career

After an occupational accident in 1985, the native Turk moved to live with his brother in Germany . After the now sitting in a wheelchair had initially shied away from social contact, the sport within the wheelchair sports community Langenhagen 82 (initially in the basketball division) gave him new courage to live. In addition to his numerous successes in badminton singles and doubles, the state of Lower Saxony voted him athlete of the year in the field of disabled sports in 2004 . In 2006 he was also awarded the German-Turkish Friendship Prize in the field of sport.

Sporting successes (selection)

• 1999: 5th place with the German team at the European Championships in Wheelchair Badminton in Tel Aviv
• 2000: German champion in wheelchair badminton in men's singles and in men's doubles
• 2001: 1st place in the men's singles and doubles at the international championships in Belgium in wheelchair badminton
• 2003: World Champion in men's singles and doubles at the World Championships in Wheelchair Badminton in Cardiff
• 2004: German champion in wheelchair badminton in men’s singles and men’s doubles
• 2005: World champion in doubles and third in singles at the World Cup in Taiwan
• 2007: World Champion at the World Cup in Thailand
• 2008: European champion at the EM in Dortmund
• 2011: World Champion at the World Cup in Guatemala

Awards

• Disabled Sportsman of the Year of the State of Lower Saxony 2004
• German-Turkish Friendship Prize 2006

Web links

• [wayback.archive.org/web/20090401030759/ http://www.avni-kertmen.de/de Extensive homepage]
• http://web.archive.org/web/20101213121611/http://www.badminton.de/WM-Thailand-2007.1248.0.html