Kuala Lumpur: After receiving heavy criticism from top shuttlers including the likes of Saina Nehwal and Parupalli Kashyap for taking the COVID-19 (Novel Coronavirus) pandemic "too lightly" and putting them at "risk" by going ahead with its international tournaments, the Badminton World Federation (BWF) on Friday suspended all tournaments.
BWF on Friday announced the suspension of all BWF World Tour and other BWF-sanctioned tournaments from March 16 until April 12.
"The Badminton World Federation (BWF) has taken the necessary step to suspend all BWF World Tour and other BWF-sanctioned tournaments from Monday 16 March until Sunday, April 12," BWF said in a statement.
"The escalation of the COVID-19 outbreak globally has led the BWF, in close consultation and consensus with its Host Member Associations and Continental Confederations, to cancel or postpone all tournaments in this period due to heightened travel and quarantine restrictions in place and the subsequent extreme logistical complications this causes to the movement of badminton athletes," the statement added.
Swiss Open 2020, India Open 2020, Orleans Masters 2020, Malaysia Open 2020, and Singapore Open 2020 are the tournaments that will be affected due to this decision of the BWF. India Open was scheduled to be played in New Delhi from March 24 to 29.
The suspension of the circuit will come into effect following the completion of the ongoing All England Open 2020 in Birmingham which is set to conclude on March 15.
BWF, in its statement, also stated: "A number of the tournaments impacted as a result of the suspension fall within the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games qualifying period. BWF will make a further announcement on regulations related to Olympic qualification points at a later date."
