BWF Confirms Postponement of Thomas and Uber Cup Finals, BAI Supports Decision

Badminton World Federation (BWF) confirmed the postponement of Thomas and Uber Cup Finals 2020 in Aarhus, Denmark after a number of participating teams withdrew due to coronavirus pandemic. The tournament were supposed to be held from October 3-11 but have now been postponed indefinitely. Australia, Taiwan, Thailand, South Korea and Indonesia were the teams that had chosen to withdraw from the tournaments.

“After lengthy discussions with key stakeholders, commercial partners and participating Member Associations, it has been realised that we are not in a position to deliver the level of competition reasonably expected by fans and all stakeholders, and as a result have decided that we will not stage this year’s TOTAL BWF Thomas and Uber Cup Finals on the dates 3-11 October 2020.

“BWF is looking into possible alternative dates to reschedule the World Men’s and Women’s Team Championships, but on dates not before into 2021,” BWF said in its statement.

BWF reiterated its commitment to safety of the players and said it had been “preparing for a safe return to international badminton”, including “implementing a bubble system” for safety of everyone involved.

The federation said it, however, respected the choice of teams and individual players to choose not to travel in these difficult times.

“BAI has been supporting BWF in its efforts to restart international badminton. However, we stand by this decision taken by BWF considering the challenges in the ongoing time and the health and safety of all concerned,” Badminton Association of India (BAI) general secretary Ajay Singhania said.

BWF further announced that the Denmark Open 2020 in Odense, will proceed as originally planned from October 13-18 October. “The event will also be used as an opportunity to implement relevant Covid-19 Safety Protocols and Operating Procedures for the planned restart of international badminton tournaments,” it said.

However, the Denmark Masters, slated for October 20-25 was cancelled as BWF said “it is no longer feasible to conduct this additional event.”

“A study into the continued feasibility of the planned Asian leg of the adjusted HSBC BWF World Tour (three HSBC BWF World Tour tournaments hosted in an Asian location) is being conducted and BWF will make further announcements as soon as details are clarified.”