The Badminton World Federation (BWF) has announced a revamped tournament calendar for the remainder of 2020 following disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

A lot of planning and consultation has taken place with Member Association hosts to be able to provide the framework for badminton’s potential return. This includes the rescheduling of top-tier events that had previously been postponed or suspended.

BWF Secretary General Thomas Lund said: “It has been a difficult task to plan for badminton’s return. It is a condensed calendar but we are confident this provides the framework to allow us to start again when it is safe and logistically possible.

“At this point in time, it is difficult to predict when international movement and entry restrictions will be lifted by individual countries and territories, but we will not resume competition unless it is absolutely clear that is safe to do so.

“The health, safety and wellbeing of all athletes, their entourage, officials and the greater badminton community remains our No.1 priority.

“We have also tried to ensure the continued livelihoods of our badminton players, including supporting all our Member Associations, by making considered preparations for badminton’s return at the soonest possible chance at all levels across the world.”

The BWF is still working on the exact model for the unfreezing of the world rankings in a staggered way to avoid any extreme drop off of points that would affect the ranking structure.

There are also ongoing considerations around the mandatory player regulations and how this is impacted by the revamped tournament schedule.

Other aspects of the BWF regulations are also being looked at including necessary changes to Olympic and Paralympic qualifying and we will make further announcements once all circumstances have been carefully considered.

Notable Changes

• The HSBC BWF World Tour is scheduled for a return with the YONEX Taipei Open 2020 (Super 300) from 1-6 September.
• The BARFOOT & THOMPSON New Zealand Open 2020 (Super 300); BLIBLI Indonesia Open 2020 (Super 1000), CELCOM AXIATA Malaysia Open 2020 (Super 750); TOYOTA Thailand Open 2020 (Super 500); and YONEX-SUNRISE India Open 2020 (Super 500) have all found new homes on the calendar.
• The season-ending HSBC BWF World Tour Finals in Guangzhou, China has been pushed back a week and will now conclude on 20 December 2020.
• As previously announced, the TOTAL BWF Thomas & Uber Cup Finals 2020 in Aarhus, Denmark will take place on the rescheduled dates of 3-11 October 2020.

Four tournaments remain suspended.

Suspended Tournaments

• YONEX German Open 2020 (3-8 March)
• YONEX Swiss Open 2020 (17-22 March)
• 2020 European Championships (21-26 April)
• CROWN GROUP Australian Open 2020 (2-7 June)

Suitable replacement dates are still being finalised for the suspended tournaments. A number of tournaments have been cancelled for the year.

Cancelled Tournaments

• Orleans Masters 2020 (24-29 March)
• Singapore Open (7-12 April)
• Badminton Asia Championships 2020 (21-26 April)
• XXIV Pan Am Individual Championships 2020 (23-26 April)
• YONEX US Open 2020 (23-28 June)
• YONEX Canada Open 2020 (30 June-5 July)
• Russian Open (7-12 July)
• YONEX Akita Masters 2020 (18-23 August)
• Vietnam Open 2020 (25-30 August)
• Indonesia Masters 2020 Super 100 (29 September-4 October)

The updated BWF Tournament Calendar 2020 is now available online. Refer here for information regarding changes to Continental Grade 3 tournaments.