The 2019 European Games will carry world ranking points and thereby points for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games qualification.
Besides the prestigious titles at the 2019 European Games, the players who qualify for the event will also get world ranking points, which will be included in their 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games qualification campaign.
The BWF Council has decided to allocate world ranking points to the Continental Multi-Sport Games, and the points for the 2019 European Games will be similar to the ones allocated to European Championships. The winner of the 2019 European Games will therefore get 7.000 points.
Labar wants a medal
One of the players, who can attend the 2019 European Games is the French Ronan Labar.
- I think it's very good news for the players because most of the federations are interested in this event and bringing back medals from it. So now that it will be part of the official BWF ranking the players will also be happy to go. I think that it's a very good decision and I'm looking forward to being able to play it and hopefully get a medal for France, Labar says.
2017 European men’s singles champion, Rajiv Ouseph also thinks the world ranking points make the tournament even more attractive.
- I can understand that they want to make it more attractive to play in the games and to give it ranking points does that, Ouseph says.
Test event in 2018
From 6-9 September 2018, the Belarusian Badminton Federation is hosting a Circuit tournament for the first time – a Future Series tournament which will serve as test event for the European Games.
The event is played in the same venue used for badminton at the 2019 European Games – the Falcon Club in Minsk.
Badminton at the 2019 European Games will take place 24-30 June 2019, with the five finals being played over the last two days. In total 160 players will qualify for the event.