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Alex Christiaan Vlaar (Bulgarian: Алекс Флаар; born 31 July 1996) is a Dutch-Bulgarian badminton player. He was born in Lelystad, the Netherlands. His father Chris Vlaar is a Dutch rally car driver and badminton coach, his mother is former badminton player Emilia Dimitrova who is also a coach. She played for Bulgaria at the 1992 Olympics women's doubles.

Career

Born in the Netherlands, Vlaar is a former young Dutch badminton player who first played for the Netherlands team. He participated for the Netherlands at the 2014 BWF World Junior Championships, 2014 Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing, China, and the 2015 European Junior Championships in Lubin, Poland. Overall top 10 BWF junior ranking in all, he won several European Ranked Junior tournaments as well in singles, doubles and mixed doubles. In the Netherlands he won several national junior and open titles. He plays team competition at the highest premier Dutch club level (Eredivisie), first for BV Almere and now already a few years with Velo badminton from Wateringen with whom he became Dutch team champion in 2016 & 2017.

Vlaar has a double Nationality (Dutch and Bulgarian) and he decided to played on a Bulgarian license to develop his badminton on the highest professional international level. Already in 2016 he became Bulgarian National senior champion in men's doubles with partner Philip Shishov and mixed doubles with partner Petya Nedelcheva. In 2017, he and Shishov successfully defended the National men's doubles title. Alex was selected for the National team of Bulgaria and together with Bulgarian mixed doubles partner Mariya Mitsova he already was runner-up at the 2016 Croatian International, and won the 2018 Bulgarian Open and the 2018 Bulgarian International.

Achievements

BWF International Challenge/Series (5 titles, 4 runners-up)

Men's doubles

Year	Tournament	Partner	Opponent	Score	Result
2016	Bulgaria International	Philip Shishov	Pakin Kuna-Anuvit Natthapat Trinkajee	19–21, 19–21	Runner-up
2018	Bulgarian International	Ivan Rusev	Jaromír Janáček Tomáš Švejda	19–21, 14–21	Runner-up
2022	Spanish International	Noah Haase	Joan Monroy Carlos Piris	21–18, 21–17	Winner

Mixed doubles

Year	Tournament	Partner	Opponent	Score	Result
2016	Croatian International	Mariya Mitsova	Zvonimir Durkinjak Mateja Čiča	18–21, 11–21	Runner-up
2017	Bulgarian Open	Iris Tabeling	Mathias Thyrri Emilie Aalestrup	23–21, 21–15	Winner
2018	Bulgarian Open	Mariya Mitsova	Anton Kaisti Inalotta Suutarinen	21–17, 17–21, 21–16	Winner
2018	Bulgarian International	Mariya Mitsova	Ashith Surya Pranjal Prabhu Chimulkar	21–15, 21–10	Winner
2019	Portugal International	Mariya Mitsova	Chang Ko-chi Lee Chih-chen	12–21, 14–21	Runner-up
2019	Hellas International	Mariya Mitsova	Miłosz Bochat Magdalena Świerczyńska	10–21, 23–21, 21–17	Winner

  BWF International Challenge tournament

  BWF International Series tournament

  BWF Future Series tournament

References

1. "Players: Alex Vlaar". bwfbadminton.com. Badminton World Federation. Retrieved 18 October 2016.
2. ^ "Alex Vlaar: My second home". www.badmintoneurope.com. Badminton Europe. 24 April 2020. Retrieved 25 April 2020.
3. "Две титли за България на бадминтон". tennis24.bg (in Bulgarian). 17 August 2017. Retrieved 25 April 2020.
4. "Bondscoach Massing maakt WJK-selectie bekend". www.bvalmere.nl (in Dutch). 18 February 2014. Retrieved 25 April 2020.
5. Kneefel, Robbie. "Verslag eerste dag Jeugd Olympische Spelen". www.top-badminton.nl (in Dutch). Retrieved 25 April 2020.
6. "Nederlands Jeugdteam zoals verwacht naar kwartfinale op EJK U19". www.top-badminton.nl (in Dutch). Retrieved 25 April 2020.
7. "Alex Vlaar". Archived from the original on 2018-12-08. Retrieved 2018-12-08.

External links

• Alex Vlaar at BWF.TournamentSoftware.com

• 1996 births
• Living people
• Sportspeople from Lelystad
• Dutch male badminton players
• Bulgarian male badminton players
• Badminton players at the 2014 Summer Youth Olympics
• Badminton players at the 2019 European Games
• European Games competitors for Bulgaria
• 21st-century Dutch sportsmen
• 21st-century Bulgarian sportsmen