The world’s oldest tournament, the YONEX All England Open 2020, will go ahead as originally scheduled, hosts Badminton England confirmed early this morning.

The 11-15 March 2020 event is the season’s first World Tour Super 1000 tournament and counts towards qualification for Tokyo 2020.

Adrian Christy, Chief Executive of Badminton England, said in a statement that the organisers were mindful of the challenges posed by the COVID-19 outbreak.

“Badminton England is continuing to monitor the ongoing situation regarding the COVID-19 but based on up-to-date government advice and the publication of the government’s Coronavirus Action Plan today (Tuesday) we will be going ahead with the YONEX All England Open Badminton Championships at Arena Birmingham on March 11-15 as planned.

“We will also continue to implement a number of measures to minimise the potential risk of the virus on players, officials, volunteers and fans attending the event,” the statement said.

Christy added that the interests of all stakeholders were of the highest priority to the hosts.

“The health and wellbeing of those joining us for the Championships in Birmingham continues to be our primary concern but we look forward to what promises to be a fantastic five days of international badminton at Arena Birmingham.

Further updates will be available on the event website (www.allenglandbadminton.com), the Badminton England website (www.badmintonengland.co.uk), and our social media channels.”