BWF freezes rankings till additional discover, seeks options for 2021 Worlds
April 1, 2020
The Badminton World Federation (BWF) on Tuesday determined to freeze the world rankings, saying standings as on March 17 would be the foundation for entry and seedings when it restarts the worldwide calendar that has been thrown haywire owing to the COVID-19 pandemic.
There was a clamour for freezing the world rankings with Indian shuttlers Saina Nehwal, B Sai Praneeth, Parupalli Kashyap and HS Prannoy main the best way in expressing their issues.
“The Badminton World Federation (BWF) can announce it’ll freeze World Rankings and World Junior Rankings till additional discover. The freezing of rankings can be backdated to Week 12, which is the week following the final worldwide event that was performed the YONEX All England Open 2020,” BWF stated in a launch.
“The rating lists issued on 17 March 2020 will function a foundation for entry and seeding into the subsequent worldwide tournaments though it’s tough to say at this stage when this can be.”
Shuttlers within the singles competitors must be inside top-16 of world rankings to qualify for the Olympics. The cut-off for doubles can be top-16.
The BWF had suspended all tournaments put up the All England Championships till April 12 as a result of pandemic.
The world physique stated it’ll take time to determine on the method of unfreezing the world rankings as it’ll depend upon how the worldwide calendar appears to be like as soon as issues enhance.
“BWF will present extra info in the end relating to the method as to how the rankings will finally be ‘unfrozen’ following the graduation of the worldwide circuit,” BWF stated.
“Nonetheless, it’s tough to stipulate the precise process till we now have an actual overview of what the worldwide calendar will seem like as soon as play resumes and suspended tournaments have been rescheduled.”
The governing physique stated it’ll begin reviewing the Olympic qualification system however a call will take a number of weeks.
“Following yesterday’s announcement to reschedule the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Video games to 23 July to eight August 2021, BWF will now additionally provoke a evaluation course of to substantiate any impacts on the Olympic qualification system,” BWF stated.
BWF on the lookout for 2021 Worlds options
The Badminton World Federation (BWF) is in talks with hosts Spain to reschedule the 2021 World Championships after the Tokyo Olympics have been pushed to subsequent 12 months as a result of COVID-19 pandemic.
Huelva, a metropolis in south-west Spain, is scheduled to host the 2021 Badminton World Championships in August however with the Tokyo Video games now rescheduled to July 23 to August 8, BWF is on the lookout for options.
“BWF is conscious of the necessity to reschedule the World Championships 2021 usually staged in August with appropriate options being mentioned with hosts Spain,” the governing physique stated in an announcement.
World Championships is a annual occasion aside from the Olympic 12 months. PV Sindhu had received the World Championships title at Basel, Switzerland in 2019.
