Badminton 2020 season to be completed in January 2021

KUALA LUMPUR: The Badminton World Federation (BWF) has announced the Asian leg of the adjusted World Tour 2020 will take place in Bangkok in January next year, which means the 2020 season will now end in 2021.

The BWF on Friday said that due to challenges in securing all logistical arrangements for players and participants, staging the Asian leg in November as originally planned, was no longer a viable option.

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. It will feature two Super 1,000 Asia Open, culminating with the World Tour Finals.

BWF president Poul-Erik Hoyer Larsen and its secretary-general Thomas Lund said in a joint letter 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 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 100 percent dedicated to preparing for the safe return to international badminton," they said.

Earlier this month, the world governing body of badminton announced the postponement of the 2020 Thomas & Uber Cup finals to 2021 after a number of participating teams withdrew over the coronavirus outbreak. IANS

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