KUALA LUMPUR: The Badminton World Federation on Friday unveiled a revamped tournament calendar for the remainder of 2020 following disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The BWF announced the revised list of events to signal the restart of competitive badminton, suspended following the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic.
The BWF confirmed that as far as its Grade 1 or 2 events were concerned, the first tournament in the revamped calendar would be the $90,000 Super 100 Hyderabad Open (Grade 2 - August 11 to 16).
The $400,000 Super 500 YONEX-SUNRISE India Open 2020, originally scheduled to be held from March 24 to 29, will now be held from December 8 to 13 in New Delhi.
The India Open was one of several tournaments that the Badminton Association of India (BAI) had suspended on March 13 due to the global outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.
The India Open will be preceded by the $170,000 Super 300 Syed Modi India International (November 17 to 22 in Lucknow).
Apart from the World Tour events, BWF’s premier team competition, Thomas and Uber Cup Finals, will be held from October 3 to 11 at Aarhus, Denmark.
In announcing the revamped calendar 2020, BWF secretary general Thomas Lund stated that whilst it was difficult to predict when international movement and entry restrictions would be lifted by individual countries and territories, BWF would not resume competition unless it is absolutely clear that it is safe to do so.
"The health, safety and wellbeing of all athletes, their entourage, officials and the greater badminton community continues to be our No.1 priority," Lund asserted.
As many as eight tournaments have been rescheduled from their original dates.
Notable Changes
• The HSBC BWF World Tour is scheduled for a return with the YONEX Taipei Open 2020
(Super 300) from 1-6 September.
• The BARFOOT & THOMPSON New Zealand Open 2020 (Super 300); BLIBLI Indonesia Open
2020 (Super 1000), CELCOM AXIATA Malaysia Open 2020 (Super 750); TOYOTA Thailand
Open 2020 (Super 500); and YONEX-SUNRISE India Open 2020 (Super 500) have all
found new homes on the calendar.
• The season-ending HSBC BWF World Tour Finals in Guangzhou, China has been pushed
back a week and will now conclude on 20 December 2020.
• As previously announced, the TOTAL BWF Thomas and Uber Cup Finals 2020 in Aarhus,
Denmark will take place on the rescheduled dates of 3-11 October.
For BWF Tournament Calendar 2020 Grade 1 and 2 full fixture list, click here...
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