The Badminton World Federation (BWF), in close consultation and consensus with the Host Member Associations and Continental Confederations, has taken the necessary step to suspend a number of HSBC BWF World Tour, BWF Tour and other BWF-sanctioned tournaments currently scheduled to take place in May, June and July.
Tournaments affected include three HSBC BWF World Tour events, which includes another key event in Oceania’s 2020 calendar: the CROWN GROUP Australian Open 2020.
Badminton Oceania Executive Board Member and Australian Open Event Director, Loke Poh Wong, says:
“Given the situation with the pandemic, it is sad but with no surprise that the CROWN GROUP Australian Open is suspended. I would like to thank all volunteers who put in so much effort to get the event ready”
“To the badminton community in Australia, Oceania and the rest of the world please follow the advise of your respective authorities to help contain this global crisis and reboot the sport as soon as possible”
The suspended tournaments from May – July include:
Grade 2 International Tournaments:
- CROWN GROUP Australian Open 2020 (2 – 7 June)
- TOYOTA Thailand Open 2020 (9 – 14 June)
- BLIBLI Indonesia Open 2020 (16 – 21 June)
- Russian Open 2020 (7 – 12 July)
Grade 3, Junior and Para Badminton Tournaments:
- LI-NING Denmark Challenge 2020 (7 – 10 May)
- FZ FORZA Slovenia International 2020 (13 – 16 May)
- YONEX Latvia International 2020 (28 – 31 May)
- CIPUTRA HANOI – YONEX SUNRISE Vietnam International Challenge 2020 (2 – 7 June)
- RSL Lithuanian International 2020 (4 – 7 June)
- Canada Para Badminton International 2020 (9 – 14 June)
- Russian International Junior White Nights 2020 (25 – 28 June)
- White Nights 2020 (1 – 5 July)
- All England Junior Badminton Championships 2020 (16 – 19 July)
The escalation of the COVID-19 pandemic globally has led all parties to confirm the suspension of these tournaments. The health, safety and wellbeing of all athletes, their entourage, officials and the greater badminton community remains the top priority.
Last week, BWF froze the World Rankings and World Junior Rankings until further notice, with ranking lists backdated to 17 March 2020. BWF will provide more clarity on the unfreezing of rankings once it is deemed safe to resume tournaments.
The BWF is also reviewing the impacts of the rescheduling of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games upon the Olympic and Paralympic qualification system. This review process is expected to take several weeks upon which BWF will make a further announcement.
Our thoughts and wishes are with everyone affected by this global pandemic and we encourage people to stay home and stay safe.
