Kuala Lumpur: After canceling the 2020 Hyderabad Open (11-16 August), Australia Open (2-7 June) and Korea Masters (24-29 November) last Thursday given the global COVID-19 pandemic, the BWF Badminton World Federation (BWF) announced on Wednesday that it also canceled the 2020 Swiss Open and European Championships.
Before the cancellations, both tournaments were suspended, with the European Championships originally scheduled to start from 21 to 26 April 2020, in Kiev and the Swiss Open to be held in Basel, Switzerland, from 17 to 22, March 2020.
Last Thursday, just days after unveiling the revised calendar for the rest of the 2020 season, BWF was forced to canceled the Hyderabad Open in August as the city was still under lockdown.
“BWF and Badminton Association of India have agreed to cancel the Hyderabad Open 2020 (11-16 August) – a Super 100 on the BWF Tour,” BWF said in last week’s statement.
BWF said on Wednesday that despite the cancellation of the 2020 European Championship, Ukraine has committed to hosting the continental championships in Kiev, from April 27 to May 2, 2021.
“Badminton Europe and the Ukrainian Badminton Federation also agreed that it was best to cancel the 2020 European Championships in Kiev, originally scheduled for 21-26 April 2020. Ukrainian Badminton Federation has agreed to host the 2021 version and it will be staged in the same Ukrainian city from 27 April to 2 May 2021,” said BWF.
As for the Swiss Open, BWF said due to the non-availability of date, it’s hard to fit the Swiss Open into a packed five-month calendar towards the end of 2020.
“BWF, in close consultation and consensus with Swiss Badminton and tournament organizers, concluded that it was no longer feasible to hold the tournament at a later date in 2020,” added BWF.
The BWF also canceled two other tournaments – Australia Open and Korea Masters – due to the COVID-19 crisis.
