COVID-19: BWF India Open, Syed Modi called off

The Badminton World Federation has called off the international competitions in India as the country has registered a massive spike in COVID-19 cases. The India Open Super 500 and the Syed Modi International Super 300 tournaments will not take place this year.

The BWF has revised its international calendar on Thursday in an attempt to salvage the season immensely disturbed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The India Open, which was originally scheduled in March, was to be held from December 8 to 13 in New Delhi and Syed Modi was slated for November 17 to 22 in Lucknow in the previously revised calendar.

“The Badminton World Federation (BWF) will implement an adjusted tournament calendar for the HSBC BWF World Tour in 2020,” the world body said in a statement. “The TOTAL BWF Thomas & Uber Cup Finals 2020 in Aarhus, Denmark will remain part of the international tournament calendar and will proceed on the planned dates of 3-11 October 2020.

“All remaining HSBC BWF World Tour tournaments on the calendar will no longer take place at the dates and locations originally listed.”

The badminton season has been on hold after the All England Championship in March.

According to BWF’s adjusted calendar, the Thomas and Uber Cup Finals will be followed by the HSBC BWF World Tour, which will resume with a two-week European leg in Odense, Denmark.

“Both of these tournaments DANISA Denmark Open I and Denmark Open II will be Super 750 events.”

The BWF calendar will take a two-week break to allow the players time to follow the necessary quarantine rules as they move to the next tour –Asia – where back-to-back Super 1000 events will be held.

“With the ongoing COVID-19 situation, the main concern for BWF is to ensure the health and safety of all participants once international tournaments resume again,” reads the BWF statement.

“We believe we are able to create a safe environment around all HSBC BWF World Tour tournaments, but the main challenge with the existing international tournament calendar is the ability of the participants to travel between the many different host locations/countries where different entry and safety restrictions apply.

“Therefore, and due to the exceptional circumstances presented by COVID-19 which are beyond our control, an adjusted calendar for the HSBC BWF World Tour will be implemented for the remainder of 2020.”

Admin Sportz Front

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