Dubai: The Badminton World Federation (BWF) is trying to ensure that it’s Asian leg of competition is incorporated within their schedule with announcement of an integrated calendar for the 2020 HSBC BWF World Tour earlier this week.
With the Total BWF Thomas and Uber Cup Finals in Aarhus, Denmark in the first half of October as the pivot, the international tournament calendar will be planned and disclosed in the near future, as per the latest information from BWF.
The Total BWF Thomas and Uber Cup Finals are scheduled to be held from October 3-11, while the HSBC BWF World Tour is scheduled to resume with a two-week European leg in Odense, Denmark with Super 750 events – the DANISA Denmark Open I and Denmark Open II.
There will then be a two-week transition time to move the tour and all participants to Asia safely – factoring in the necessary quarantine period – for two Super 1000 tournaments, while culminating with the HSBC BWF World Tour Finals. The locations of the three Asian leg tournaments are yet to be announced.
BWF Secretary General Thomas Lund insisted on the safety measures in place for all concerned. “Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it is not possible to implement the revised international tournament calendar for the HSBC BWF World Tour as originally envisaged. Managing travel logistics between different territories where different entry and safety restrictions apply has been the biggest challenge for us. Therefore, an adjusted tournament calendar had to be developed,” Lund explained in a statement.
“Our main concern has always been the health and safety of all participants and we have created a BWF Safety Protocols and Operating Procedures document to guide us in this process. We look forward to the return of international badminton. In light of the exceptional circumstances we find ourselves in, an adjusted tournament calendar has been developed to replace the present HSBC BWF World Tour tournament locations and dates,” he added.
BWF has shared its Safety Protocols and Operating Procedures document outlining the safe return to international badminton to all member associations, and will make this document publicly available in a separate announcement. Any breach of these guidelines can result in accreditations being revoked and participants not permitted to enter the venue.
In the meantime, the BWF is working with different member associations to explore the feasibility of staging the Asian leg tournaments and a final announcement is expected soon to allow all participants to plan their travel arrangements.
Tournaments completed in 2020 will accumulate world ranking points, although such points will only be included with the unfreezing of the BWF World Rankings. The exact model for the unfreezing of the BWF World Rankings, and how subsequent rankings are structured and valued, will be released shortly.
