BWF announced 22 tournaments in 5 months during the coronavirus pandemic. Image Courtesy – The Live Nagpur
The Badminton World Federation (BWF) released a new calendar for the upcoming tournaments. According to the calendar, 22 tournaments will be scheduled in 5 months.
Since the coronavirus pandemic is currently going on without a proper vaccine available in the market. It is still uncertain when our lives will be normal. This is too early to announce such a tournament schedule that is starting within 3 months from now. All the players are completely out of practice, and they are not prepared physically and mentally either, because of psychological pressure due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Indian badminton stars like Saina Nehwal, P Kashyap, B Sai Praneeth and others criticised the calendar. P Kashyap said that there was no time for practice in this coronavirus epidemic, and the BWF announced 22 tournaments in 5 months. H S Prannoy told in a sarcastic way that BWF has done a commendable job; they could have added the number of tournaments to 25 instead of 22.
Saina Nehwal expressed worry that 5 months of continuous travelling would be risky for players. She also said that even the tennis players would not have to start till October. She questioned the international guidelines regarding travel to foreign countries. B Sai Praneeth also expressed frustration with the more travel.
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The Olympic qualifying badminton tournament, the India Open, will be held from 8 to 13 December. The tournament, due in March, was postponed due to the coronavirus. Hyderabad Open will be held from 11 to 16 August, while the Syed Modi tournament will be from 17 to 22 November. The Thomas and Uber Cup finals will be held in Denmark from October 3 to 11.
The dates of the German Open, Swiss Open, European Open and Australian Open have not yet been announced. Changes have been made to 8 tournament dates. BWF Secretary General Thomas Lund says that it is difficult to plan for the return of badminton. More than 10 badminton tournaments have been cancelled since March due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Now, the question is, how will the players get confidence for virus-free sports? Since no vaccine is available to date, and nothing is yet to come before September 2020. So, there may be possibilities of viral infection at any moment.
