THERE will be no further tournaments in China for the remainder of the year due to Covid-19 restrictions.
The Badminton World Federation (BWF) yesterday released a revised tournament calendar for the rest of the season, which will resume after the Tokyo Olympics on July 23-Aug 8.
Vantaa, Finland, will host the Sudirman Cup on Sep 26-Oct 3, replacing Suzhou, China, who were supposed to organise it on May 23-30.
There will be a one-week break before everyone shifts their focus on the Thomas and Uber Cup Finals in Aarhus, Denmark on Oct 9-17.
For the record, the Thomas and Uber Cups were postponed from last year.
“The changes represent the best and most feasible opportunity for badminton tournaments to resume with regularity over the next six months.
“The next ranking cycle will start immediately after the Tokyo Olympics.
“The new calendar offers players a safe and consistent platform to earn world ranking points and prize money in this crucial post-Olympic Games period for the sport.
“It is now not feasible to conduct tournaments in China due to Covid-19 restrictions.
“Therefore, alternative host cities have been identified for the Sudirman Cup Finals and the BWF World Tour Finals 2021,” said BWF in a statement.
The US$1.5million (RM6.22 million) BWF World Tour Finals, originally scheduled in Guangzhou, China, will now be held in Bali, Indonesia, on Dec 1-5.
Bali will also host two other tournaments, the Indonesia Masters (Nov 16-21) and the Indonesia Open (Nov 23-28), as part of a three-tournament Asian leg.
The final tournament on the 2021 calendar will be the World Championships in Huelva, Spain on Dec 12-19.
BWF also noted that 10 tournaments previously classified as postponed in quarter one and two this year have been cancelled.
However, three tournaments — Malaysia Masters, Malaysia Open and the Korea Masters — are still categorised as postponed as the respective hosts wish to continue exploring options to stage the events.
Source: New Straits Times
