Kuala Lumpur: As the numbers for coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak continue to spread fast, especially in European and South East Asian countries, the Badminton World Federation (BWF) was forced to cancel all HSBC BWF World Tour and other BWF-sanctioned tournaments from Monday 16 March until Sunday 12 April 2020.
Major tournaments such as Swiss Open, India Open, Orléans Masters, Malaysia Open, and Singapore Open, as well as a number of international Grade 3 tournaments were cancelled because of the evolving COVID-19 public health threat.
Since the cancellation would undoubtedly impact the 2020 Tokyo Olympic qualification ranking points, BWF said it will make further announcement about the regulations related to the Race to Tokyo – BWF Olympic Qualification rankings.
Here’s the official announcement from BWF:
“BWF STATEMENT ON COVID-19 AND HSBC BWF WORLD TOUR AND BWF-SANCTIONED TOURNAMENTS
The Badminton World Federation (BWF) has taken the necessary step to suspend all HSBC BWF World Tour and other BWF-sanctioned tournaments from Monday 16 March until Sunday April 12.
The escalation of the COVID-19 outbreak globally has led the BWF, in close consultation and consensus with its Host Member Associations and Continental Confederations, to cancel or postpone all tournaments in this period due to heightened travel and quarantine restrictions in place and the subsequent extreme logistical complications this causes to the movement of badminton athletes.
BWF equally has strong considerations for the health, safety and wellbeing of all athletes, their entourage, officials and the greater badminton community in general.
Tournaments affected include the YONEX Swiss Open 2020, YONEX-SUNRISE India Open 2020, Orléans Masters 2020, CELCOM Axiata Malaysia Open 2020, and Singapore Open 2020, as well as a number of international Grade 3 tournaments (see full list below).
The suspension of the circuit will come into effect following the completion of the YONEX All England Open 2020 in Birmingham, England, on Sunday 15 March.
Both BWF and Badminton England have been in constant communication with government officials and relevant authorities in the United Kingdom in relation to any possible disruption to the YONEX All England Open and both parties are satisfied with the British government’s most recent advisory issued Friday morning UK time to continue with the staging of the tournament.
Unless government advice changes, Badminton England remains confident that the robust and comprehensive measures in place before and during the event will minimise the potential risk of the virus.
BWF duly accepts this position and that all relevant health, safety and logistical risks have been considered by BWF, Badminton England, tournament organisers, and the local government in reaching this decision.
A number of the tournaments impacted as a result of the suspension fall within the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games qualifying period. BWF will make a further announcement on regulations related to Olympic qualification points at a later date.”
BadmintonPlanet would like to wish all badminton fans to remain safe and healthy during the Coronavirus outbreak.
