Once again the destination is Ostrava, just as it was for the inaugural event in 1997 and has been ever since that date; the capital of the Moravian-Silesian Region is the home for the 15^th edition of the Czech Para Open, a tournament nowadays that respects the memory of Jiri Danek.

Play in the three day tournament commences on Thursday 23^rd June.

Most recently, held just under one year ago in July, five players who emerged gold medallists return.

Notably the host nation’s Petr Svatos is amongst the group; he won men’s singles class 3.

Also in the men’s singles events, Germany’s Björn Schnake returns as does Serbia’s Zorica Popadic and Hungary’s Andras Csonka.

Last year Björn Schnake emerged the class 7 winner, Andras Csonka claimed the class 8 title; meanwhile, Zorica Popadic, a class 4 athlete, struck gold in class 2-5.

Likewise in the women’s singles, Turkey’s Ebru Acer defends her title; she won class 11.

Players to note as are the names of three Tokyo 2020 gold medallists.

Frenchman Fabien Lamirault (class 2) and Poland’s Patryk Chojnowski (class 10) appear in the men’s singles events, Ukraine’s Maryna Lytovchenko (class 6) in the women’s competition.

Earlier this year in mid-May, all three enjoyed success in Slovenia; most notably Maryna Lytovchenko completing a clean sweep of titles.

Following her success in women’s singles class 6, in class 14 she partnered Hungary’s Zsofia Arloy to gold, before achieving the same mixed doubles outcome in harness with colleague Viktor Didukh.

Overall, 266 players (193 men, 73 women) will compete in Ostrava; no less than 37 nations will be represented.