KUALA LUMPUR: The India Open, which is an Olympic qualifying event, has been postponed.
The Badminton World Federation (BWF) announced today that the event, scheduled for May 11-16 in New Delhi, has been put on hold due to the spike in Covid-19 cases in the country.
"Tournament organisers BA of India (BAI) have postponed the India Open scheduled on May 11-16.
"The decision was made in consultation and collaboration with local health authorities in Delhi and the BWF.
"All attempts were made by organisers to conduct a safe tournament environment for all participants, but the recent spike in Covid-19 cases and gravity of the situation in Delhi left BAI no choice but to postpone the tournament," read an official statement.
Though most players would be relieved that they don't have to travel to India, their hopes of qualifying for the Olympics or even securing a good seeding at the Olympics in July now hangs in the balance.
With the India Open postponed, it remains to be seen if the last two Olympic qualifying events, the Malaysia Open on May 25-30 and Singapore Open on June 1-6 will suffer a similar fate.