KUALA LUMPUR, June 28 —The Badminton World Federation (BWF) has announced major changes to the remaining of the 2021 calendar, but the status of the two tournaments supposed to be held in Malaysia remains ‘postponed’.
The BWF, in a statement today, said the Malaysia Masters, a Super 500 event in the BWF World Tour, Malaysia Open (Super 750) and Korean Masters (Super 300), are still categorised as postponed, as the respective hosts wishing to explore options to stage the events.
Among the notable changes is moving the 2021 Sudirman Cup Finals and the 2021 BWF World Tour Finals from China due to COVID-19 restrictions.
BWF now has rescheduled the Sudirman Cup from Sept 26 to Oct 3 to Vantaa, Finland, followed by the 2020 Thomas and Uber Cup, postponed for a year due to pandemic, in Aarhus, Denmark from Oct 9 to 17 and Denmark Open (Super 1000) in Odense from Oct 19 to 24.
Europe remains as the focal point with the French Open in Paris (Oct 26-31) and SaarLorLux Open in Saarbrucken, Germany (Nov 2-7), before the Indonesian tourist spot of Bali hosts three back-to-back tournaments - Indonesia Masters (Nov 16-21), Indonesia Open (Nov 23-28) and BWF World Tour Finals (Dec 1-5).
The season will conclude with the BWF World Championships in Huelva, Spain, scheduled from Dec 12-19.
“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 following the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. The new calendar offers players a safe and consistent platform to earn important world ranking points and prize money in this crucial post-Olympic Games period for the sport,” BWF said.
BWF also confirmed the cancellation of the New Zealand Open, Australia Open, India Open, Hyderabad Open, Vietnam Open, China Open, Japan Open and Hong Kong Open. — Bernama
