Kuala Lumpur: The Badminton World Federation (BWF) has cancelled four tournaments, including Taipei Open 2020 and Korea Open, due to ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
The Taipei Open was slated to take place from September 1 to September 6 while the Korea Open was scheduled to be held from September 8 to September 13. Apart from that the other two tournaments which have been cancelled are China Open (September 15-20) and Japan Open (September 22-27).
BWF Secretary General Thomas Lund said: "These decisions to cancel tournaments are made in the best interest of the health of the players, spectators, volunteers and member associations."
"We are deeply disappointed to have to cancel tournaments, but feel that the well-being of everyone involved is most important at this time."
Lund added: "We share the disappointment of many around the world who were looking forward to the return of badminton and appreciate all of the continued support from our fans and partners as we continue to navigate the remainder of the 2020 season.
"The BWF will continue to adjust to changes to ensure any badminton activity 100% complies to the rules and regulations of the World Health Organisation (WHO), local health authorities, and international and domestic travel restrictions," Lund further said.
Earlier, the BWF had announced the cancellations of the China Masters and Dutch Open from its revamped calendar for the 2020 season due to the pandemic.
Due to the pandemic, the entire world has come to the standstill. Big sports events like the Olympic Games had to be postponed. BWF, too, had to cancel its events after many shuttlers expressed resentment after the international governing body of badminton initially decided to conduct a few events.
