THE BA of Malaysia (BAM) have refused to rule out the outright cancellation of the Malaysia Open and Malaysia Masters but admitted a postponement is very likely on the cards.
Both the Malaysia Open (March 31-April 4) and the Malaysia Masters (April 6-11) are part of a tournament bubble similar to last month's Asian leg of the BWF Tour in Bangkok.
The current state of the Movement Control Order (MCO), which ends on Feb 18, is putting all plans in a tight spot.
BAM secretary-general Datuk Kenny Goh said they are awaiting feedback from the Badminton World Federation (BWF) before deciding on both meets.
"We have not received a reply from the BWF yet," said Kenny.
"But the truth is, there are many protocols and standard operating procedures to study, and a lot of preparation needs to be done to have the tournaments ready by the scheduled dates.
"We feel that time is not our side as there are too many uncertainties.
"However, we hope the BWF will be open to postponing the Malaysia Open instead of cancelling the tournament as it is part of the Olympic qualifiers.
"The faster we can decide on this, the better it will be for us to engage with our sponsors and relevant parties.
"However, we understand that as much as the world body want to get it resolved, they have a lot of considerations to look into as well."
The Malaysian meets are not the only competitions in jeopardy as the Badminton Asia have already called off the Asia Mixed Team Championships, scheduled for this month.
Additionally, the Singapore Open on April 13-18 and the Asian Championships on April 27-May 2 could also be called off.
The big pickle for the BWF in postponing both the Malaysian meets would be to find new suitable dates in a calendar already affected by the Covid-19 situation.