KUALA LUMPUR, 15 Sept – The writing was on the wall and the Badminton World Federation (BMF) finally postponed the prestigious Thomas and Uber Cup Finals 2020 to next year due to the Coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic.
The world team championships for men and women were already postponed earlier this year – first in May (16-24) and the second in August (15-23).
The Finals were rescheduled to be held in Aarhus, Denmark from Oct 3-11 and was to kickstart BWF’s rescheduled calendar for this year after all tournaments were either canceled or postponed in March after the All-England Championships in Birmingham.
The Thomas and Uber Cup Finals was to be followed by the World Tour 750 events – the Denmark Open (Oct 13-18) and the Denmark Masters (Oct 20-25). However, the Denmark Masters has since been canceled while the Denmark Open in Odense will proceed.
The BWF also failed to get replacements with Singapore and Hong Kong China declined the invitations as the withdrawal list get longer each day. Among the big names to withdraw were Indonesia, South Korea, Thailand, Chinese Taipei, and Australia.
It is learned that China and Japan were also contemplating pulling out from the Finals and waiting for their government for the final say.
The Covid-19 continues to ravage the world sports scene with major sporting events either postponed and canceled although some of the sports have made a competitive return under strict standard operating procedures (SOP).
Indonesia has also pulled out from hosting two Super 1000 events in Asian-leg apart from the season-ending HSBC World Tour Finals in November.
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