Kuala Lumpur: In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2021 Sudirman Cup which was originally scheduled to take place in Suzhou, China, from April 23 to April 30th, has now been moved to Vantaa, Finland; while the 2021 Badminton World Federation (BWF) World Tour Finals in Guangzhou, China has been relocated to Bali, Indonesia.
BWF made that announcement on Monday as China won’t be able to host any major badminton tournaments in 2021.
“Unfortunately, though, we won’t be able to conduct any tournaments in China, and therefore won’t be able to host the HSBC BWF World Tour Finals in its spiritual home in Guangzhou. But moving the Finals to Bali does allow us to stage the season finale within the busy 2021 tournament schedule,” said BWF Secretary General Thomas Lund.
“We are also very grateful to Badminton Finland for coming to us with a solution to stage the TotalEnergies BWF Sudirman Cup Finals 2021 in Vantaa instead of in China. They have conducted a number of international tournaments in 2020 and 2021 with a proven safe and flexible framework for participants, and we are very excited to have this opportunity to take our flagship World Mixed Team Championships to Finland for the very first time,” added Lund.
After the 2021 Sudirman Cup Finals which will be held in Vantaa, Finland, from September 26 to October 3, there will be one week gap before all shuttlers could travel to Aarhus, Denmark to participate in the postponed 2020 Thomas & Uber Cup Finals from October 9 to October 17, 2021.
The European leg will be followed by back-to-back World Tour events including Denmark Open in Odense (from October 19 to October 24), French Open in Paris (from October 26 to October 31), and SaarLorLux Open in Saarbrücken, Germany (from November 2 to November 7).
BWF will wrap up the 2021 season with three back-to-back tournaments in Bali, Indonesia, with 2021 Indonesia Masters (upgraded to Super 750 level), from November 16 to November 21; 2021 Indonesia Open from November 23 to November 28; and BWF World Tour Finals, from December 1 to December 5.
“While a number of tournament hosts in Asia are eager to stage tournaments, the general feedback surrounding COVID-19 restrictions and the uncertainty of the situation there has meant that it is likely only a few tournaments could possibly take place,” explained Lund.
“In saying that, we have been able to work with the Badminton Association of Indonesia (PBSI) to present a comprehensive plan for a three-week bubble-style setup in Bali similar to what we saw at the Asian Leg in Bangkok earlier this year. And we are still assessing the feasibility of staging a few other tournaments also in Asia in this period,” said Lund.
Meanwhile, Carolina Marin’s hometown of Huelva has been chosen to host the 2021 World Championships, from December 12 to December 19.
