Hyderabad Open badminton cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic

Hyderabad Open was part of the BWF's revised calendar to restart the sport after the pandemic-forced cancellations since March.




The Hyderabad Open badminton tournament which was scheduled to be held from August 11 to 16, was cancelled by the Badminton World Federation (BWF) on Thursday. The decision comes on the backdrop of the growing threat of the Covid-19 pandemic.

“BWF and Badminton Association of India have agreed to cancel the Hyderabad Open 2020 (11-16 August) – a Super 100 on the BWF Tour,” the Badminton World Federation (BWF) said in a statement.

“Circumstances have and will continue to change in certain countries and territories and therefore BWF may be required to make further updates to the status of tournaments as and when necessary,” said BWF Secretary General Thomas Lund.

“These changes announced today are necessary but do not directly impact the new BWF Tournament Calendar 2020, which was created to allow for changes as part of our framework for badminton’s potential return,” BWF Secretary General Thomas Lund said.

“Health, safety and movement restrictions are now quite varied across the globe as certain countries and territories slowly return to a new normal.”

Pullela Gopichand, chief India national coach, reckoned that under the current environment going ahead with the tournament would have been difficult with Hyderabad still under lockdown.

“At the moment the lockdown is still on in Hyderabad and the Telangana government has still not decided when the sports infrastructure will open even though the central government has cleared it. We are just waiting for the information,” Gopichand told PTI.

“…it will be too difficult for us to commit for a tournament in August.”

The BWF also cancelled two other tournaments — Australia Open and Korea Masters — in view of the global health crisis.

(With PTI inputs)

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