Kuala Lumpur: For all shuttlers who are still struggling to qualify for the Tokyo Olympic, they will have to deal with another blow to their chances of earning some crucial ranking points for Tokyo, after BWF was advised by the Mulheim public health department to cancel the German Open BWF Super 300 tournament, an Olympic qualifier event, scheduled to be held next week in Mulheim due to coronavirus threat.
“The Badminton World Federation (BWF) can confirm the YONEX German Open 2020 to be staged in Mulheim an der Ruhr next week will no longer take place on its scheduled dates of 3-8 March. The City of Mulheim took the decision earlier today (Wednesday) in line with its own rules and procedures due to restrictions in place over the Covid-19 (Coronavirus) outbreak,” said BWF.
“After medical advice and a mutual decision process, we cancelled the event at the scheduled time. Based on the current situation, the Mulheim health office recommended that the event be cancelled and postponed to a later date. We followed the recommendation”, said Mulheim’s Sports and Health Director, Marc Buchholz.
However, no concrete plans or decisions have been made in regards to the immediate future of the tournament other than that it won’t occur next week.
Meanwhile, the Polish Open that was scheduled to be held at Krakow from March 26 to 29, and also another qualifying event for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, has been cancelled by Polish Badminton Association (PBA) on Wednesday also due to concerns over the coronavirus outbreak.
“The decision of the Board of the PBA to postpone the Polish Open was dictated by the need to ensure full safety and a sporting atmosphere during the competition. Unfortunately, at present, in the conditions of a health threat, and the inability to ensure a sense of security for competitors, supporters, organizers, we cannot take such risk,” says Michał Langer, PBA General Secretary, as quoted by Badminton Europe.
“The decision was difficult but necessary,” added Langer.
According to Badminton Europe, the decision would not affect the Polish U17 International which will take place in Imielin, from March 13 to 15.
