Tokyo Olympics: BWF extends badminton qualification window to June 15

Kuala Lumpur:The Badminton World Federation (BWF) on Friday extended the Tokyo Olympics badminton qualification window to June 15 after the postponement of multiple World Tour events due to COVID-19 pandemic.

The qualification period was earlier to end on 25 April. According to BWF, the Singapore Open will serve as the last tournament for qualification.

The Malaysia Open, which was initially scheduled for March 31-April 4, was pushed back to May 25-30, while April's Malaysia Masters was postponed until further notice.The Singapore Open 2021 (Super 500) was also moved to the new dates of June 1-6.

"In securing new dates for the Malaysia Open and Singapore Open, BWF confirms the Indonesia Masters 2021 and Indonesia Open 2021 have been postponed also," the BWF said in a statement.

'Replacement dates for those tournaments will be announced in due course,' it added.BWF said that is working with the IOC to update the Tokyo 2020 qualification system whereby the final updated regulation will be shared once ready following formal approval by IOC.

Notably, players were allowed to keep ranking points earned during the original Olympic qualification period before the COVID-19 pandemic forced the Games to be pushed back by a year.

The world body also said that preparations for the Olympic qualifying tournaments will continue as international badminton is set to resume with the YONEX Swiss Open 2021 (March 2-7) and YONEX All England Open 2021 (March 17-21).(UNI)