Tournament organisers Badminton Association of India (BAI) have postponed the YONEX-SUNRISE India Open – a Super 500 tournament on the HSBC BWF World Tour – scheduled for 11-16 May 2021.
The decision was made in consultation and collaboration with local health authorities in Delhi and the Badminton World Federation. All attempts were made by organisers to conduct a safe tournament environment for all participants, but the recent spike in COVID-19 cases and gravity of the situation in Delhi left BAI no choice but to postpone the tournament.
The postponement of the tournament comes as a disappointment to the aspiring Olympians from New Zealand, Abhinav Manota, Oliver Leydon-Davis and Anona Pak who were all in pursuit of vital World Ranking points from the limited tournaments left in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games qualifying period.
Following the release of the tournament M and Q last week, the men’s and mixed doubles pairings had made the main draw of the HSBC BWF World Tour Super 500 tournament, with 9200 World Ranking points on offer for the winners, which count towards the Race To Tokyo Rankings.
In the mixed doubles, Leydon-Davis and Pak are sitting at number 52 in the Race to Tokyo Rankings, while neighboring rivals from Australia (Simon Leung and Gronya Somerville) sit at 48 and the 16th (out of 16) qualification spot for the mixed double draw at the Tokyo 2020 Games.
Similarly, Leydon-Davis and Manota are sitting at number 63 in the Race to Tokyo Rankings, while Australia’s Simon Leung and Mitchell Wheller sit at the higher ranked 56. Neither pairs have currently qualified in the top 16, but it is possible for one of the pairs to qualify under the continental spot if they get into the top 50 of the Road To Tokyo Rankings.
Manota is also in pursuit of a men’s singles spot – currently sitting 85 in the overall World Rankings and 40 (out of 42) in the Tokyo 2020 qualification rankings – in line to receive an offer for a continental position.
No players from Australia had entered the YONEX-SUNRISE India Open.
There are only two tournaments left in the qualification period for the Tokyo 2020 Games:
- CELCOM AXIATA Malaysia Open 2021 – HSBC BWF World Tour Super 750 – 25-30 May
- Singapore Open 2021 Grade 2 – HSBC BWF World Tour Super 750 – 1-6 June
View the BWF 2021 Tournament Calendar here.
