The Asian leg of the 2020 Badminton World Tour scheduled for November has been postponed until next year in Bangkok, officials said, due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The Badminton World Federation (BWF) said three tournaments on the tour were now scheduled to be played back-to-back in mid-January, with the finals at the end of the month, all in the Thai capital.
“The January dates provide BWF with the best possible opportunity to resume and complete the HSBC BWF World Tour for 2020 as part of our return to international badminton,” it said in a statement late Friday.
Two of the tour’s Super 1000 tournaments will begin on January 12 and 19, with the finals to be played on the 27 and ending on the 31.
It further said that Thailand had been selected as the host, following a feasibility study by BWF, Badminton Association of Thailand in collaboration with the Government of Thailand, to ensure all parties can provide a safe Covid-19 framework to stage the three tournaments.
In a joint letter, BWF president Poul-Erik Hoyer Larsen and secretary-general Thomas Lund said that pushing back the tournament would affect the world rankings and next season’s BWF Tournament calendar but it was the best option.
“From the start, we emphasised that we would only see a return to international badminton if it was safe and logistically possible to do so. Therefore, for the past six months, we have been dedicatedly preparing for the safe return to international badminton,” they said. International badminton has been on hold since March due to the pandemic. Next month’s Denmark Open is the only top-level event confirmed on this year’s calendar.
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