ALTHOUGH there has been no formal confirmation, it is understood that the Badminton Asia Championships (BAC), scheduled in Manila on Apr 21-26, will be postponed to a later date.
The BAC, a Badminton Asia flagship event, was supposed to be the final event on the calendar to offer qualification points for the Tokyo Olympics in July.
A source close to the regional organisation said: “Officially, there has been no announcement but unofficially, it will have to be postponed to a later date.
“Even the Badminton World Federation have suspended all competitions up until April 15.
“We are dealing with uncertain times.”
Initially, the BAC was scheduled in Wuhan — the epicentre of the deadly virus that has killed more than 6,000 people worldwide.
After much deliberation, Badminton Asia announced that Manila will once again play host after hosting the team event in February.
In Malaysia, the BA of Malaysia (BAM) have postponed the Malaysia Open on Mar 31-Apr 5 and have placed all their coaches and players under quarantine at the Academy Badminton Malaysia (ABM) in Bukit Kiara for the next two weeks.