Following last week’s announcement that the Badminton World Federation (BWF) was suspending all HSBC BWF World Tour and other BWF-sanctioned tournaments from Monday 16 March until Sunday April 12, a further five tournaments have also been cancelled or postponed.

This includes the suspension of the three Continental Confederation championships scheduled for week 17 on the BWF Tournament Calendar – one of the last chances for athletes to gain qualification for Tokyo 2020 before the April 26 deadline.

Suspended Tournaments

• VICTOR Croatian International 2020 (16-19 April)
• Peru International 2020 (16-19 April)
• 2020 European Championships (21-26 April)
• Badminton Asia Championships 2020 (21-26 April)
• XXIV Pan Am Individual Championships 2020 (23-26 April)

The escalation of the COVID-19 outbreak globally has led the BWF, in close consultation and consensus with its Continental Confederations and Host Member Associations, to confirm the suspension of these tournaments.

The health, safety and wellbeing of all athletes, their entourage, officials and the greater badminton community remains the top priority for all relevant parties.

Heightened travel and quarantine restrictions and the subsequent extreme logistical complications this has caused also contributed to the suspension.

Badminton Europe said they and Ukrainian Badminton Federation were forced to postpone their flagship tournament in Kyiv, Ukraine as a consequence of the COVID-19 virus spreading rapidly across the continent.

Badminton Asia took similar measures to suspend its tournament in Manila, Philippines. The Badminton Asia Championships 2020 had already relocated once, switching from Wuhan, China to Manila due to the COVID-19 outbreak in that city.

Meanwhile, Badminton Pan Am also said it was no longer feasible to stage the XXIV Pan Am Individual Championships 2020 in Peru because of health and safety fears linked to COVID-19. The tournament was originally planned for Guatemala City.

All five tournaments were stated to be played within the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games qualifying period, but will no longer contribute to Olympic qualifying as they will now fall outside the qualification window.

BWF will make a further announcement on any implications related to the Olympic qualification period at a later date.