The Badminton World Federation (BWF) can confirm the YONEX German Open 2020 to be staged in Mülheim an der Ruhr next week will no longer take place on its scheduled dates of 3-8 March.

The City of Mülheim took the decision earlier today (Wednesday) in line with its own rules and procedures due to restrictions in place over the Covid-19 (Coronavirus) outbreak.

“After medical advice from Mülheim’s public health department and a process of consideration, we (City of Mülheim) cancelled the event at the scheduled time,” the city’s statement read.

German Badminton Association (GBA) confirmed the decision by the City of Mülheim shortly after.

No concrete plans or decisions have been made in regards to the immediate future of the tournament other than that it won’t occur next week.

BWF and GBA accept the decision citing the welfare of players, their entourage, fans and officials at the tournament as the main priority.

The tournament is a Super 300 event on the HSBC BWF World Tour as well as being an Olympic qualifier.

The BWF is continuing to monitor all official updates on Covid-19 (Coronavirus) with no change to the intention to stage other HSBC BWF World Tour or BWF-sanctioned tournaments.

Polish Open 2020 Postponed

Polish Badminton Association (PBA) today also postponed the Polish Open 2020 – an upcoming Badminton Europe circuit tournament.

PBA said in a letter to Badminton Europe: “Due to the growing sanitary and epidemiological threat posed by Covid-19 (Coronavirus), the Board of the Polish Badminton Association, after consultation with the District Sanitary and Epidemiological Station in Krakow, the Crisis Management Department in Krakow, the Department of Social Affairs, and the Ministry of Sport and Health, have decided to postpone the Polish Open 2020.”

The tournament, set for Krakow 26-29 March, was a qualifying event for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

New dates are being earmarked but the tournament will no longer fall inside the Olympic qualification period.

** Please contact BWF Communications & Media Manager Lloyd Green [email protected] for any media inquiries.