Badminton restart ‘difficult to predict’, says BWF chief

Badminton will probably be again in motion “as soon as possible” after the coronavirus disaster, the game’s chief instructed AFP, including that worldwide journey restrictions had been complicating the image.

Badminton, like tennis, golf and different sports activities with a global circuit, faces main hurdles after international locations launched an array of journey bans and quarantine intervals to fight COVID-19.

Thomas Lund, secretary normal of the Badminton World Federation, mentioned an announcement on a rejigged 2020 calendar was anticipated quickly. But he cautioned that the scenario remained fluid.

“We are gearing up to be ready to start competition as soon as possible. This includes formulating a revamped BWF tournament calendar for 2020. An announcement on this will be made shortly,” Lund mentioned in an announcement to AFP.

“But at this point in time, it is difficult to predict when international movement and entry restrictions will be lifted by individual countries and territories in order to guarantee that players, their entourage, officials and staff can participate in tournaments safely.” Badminton has already moved the Thomas and Uber Cups, a spotlight of the season, to later within the yr, hoping that the virus emergency can have handed.

The de facto males’s and ladies’s world crew championships — orginally scheduled for May, after which moved to August — at the moment are set to happen in Aarhus, Denmark in October.

The pinnacle of the badminton season had been anticipated to be the Tokyo Olympics, now shifted to 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

All BWF tournaments have been suspended since mid-March, when {most professional} sports activities worldwide had been frozen as journey restrictions bit and a swathe of nations went into lockdown.