Indian domestic badminton tournaments to be held in April and May postponed due to COVID-19

All upcoming domestic badminton tournaments in India have been postponed due to the surge in COVID-19 cases, the Badminton Association of India (BAI) announced on Monday.

Due to the decision, the upcoming tournament in Bengaluru, scheduled to be held from 18 to 25 April, has been postponed. Besides, the sub-junior and junior competitions in Hyderabad, which were due to take place in May, have been postponed.

"With the exponential rise in the number of COVID+ cases across the country, BAI President Himanta Biswa has decided to postpone all the upcoming domestic tournaments starting with Banglore (April18-25) followed by junior and sub-junior in Hyderabad in May," BAI wrote in a tweet.

India has been encountering a second wave of COVID-19 over the past few days. More than a lakh of new cases were reported Sunday, the highest 24-hour spike in the country since the start of the pandemic.

The Badminton World Federation (BWF) also announced that the Russian Open 2021 and Indonesia Masters 2021 Super 100 had been cancelled due to restrictions and complications related to COVID-19.

"The Badminton World Federation (BWF) can confirm that two BWF Tour Super 100 events - Indonesia Masters 2021 Super 100 and Russian Open 2021 have been cancelled. The ongoing restrictions and complications of COVID-19 have left local organizers with no choice but to cancel the tournament. The corresponding decisions of the national badminton federations of Russia and Indonesia were made in consultation and agreement with the BWF," the BWF stated.

ON SATURDAY, the BWF had informed that it would hold its 82nd Annual General Meeting virtually in May. A proposal from Badminton Maldives and Badminton Indonesia, backed by Badminton Asia, will be discussed on 22 May at the BWF AGM to amend the badminton scoring system laws.

It is proposed to change the scoring system from the best of three games with 21 points to the best of five games with 11 points. According to BWF, several items are on the agenda, including the scheduled Council elections, which are held only in one Olympic year due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the postponement of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games.