Malaysia open to be BWF season opener for next two years
29 Aug 2022 02:23pm
Badminton community could look forward to a return to normalcy over the next few years after the global sports scene was largely impacted by the pandemic.
- 123RF Photo
The Malaysia Open which has been upgraded from Super 750 to Super 1000 from next year, the tour’s highest tier, offering bigger prize money and world ranking points, is scheduled to be held from Jan 10-15 in 2023 and Jan 9-14 in 2024.
The 31-event World Tour will then continue with the India Open, Indonesia Masters and Thailand Masters, followed by continental championships in week seven (February) for both years, before moving to Europe with German Open.
Meanwhile, the Malaysia Masters is scheduled for week 21, with the dates being May 23-28 next year and May 21-26, 2024.
BWF also confirmed China as the 2023 Sudirman Cup hosts from May 14-21 in Suzhou, which is set to be the first tournament eligible for Race to Paris Olympic Qualification to run from May 1, next year till April 28, 2024.
Denmark’s capital Copenhagen will host the World Championships from Aug 20-27, while China will also host the 2024 Thomas and Uber Cups from April 28 to May 5 with the host city to be announced later.
BWF Secretary-General Thomas Lund said the badminton community could look forward to a return to normalcy over the next few years after the global sports scene was largely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic since early 2020.
"As we emerge out of COVID-19, we are now able to structure a full week-by-week tournament calendar with an emphasis on expanding our global footprint. We also feel we no longer require cluster tournaments previously introduced to negate the complexities of COVID-19 travel.
"This will help to ease some of the stresses on players and teams, giving them more freedom to pick and choose the events they play as they plan their all-important Paris 2024 qualification run,” he said in a statement.
Meanwhile, in a separate development, Malaysian junior shuttlers snatched two titles from the India Junior International Series 2022 Under-19 tournament held at the Kotak Pullela Gopichand Badminton Academy in Hyderabad, yesterday.
Top seed Justin Hoh bagged the men’s singles crown defeating the hosts' Pranay Shettigar 21-18, 21-14, while Ong Xin Yee-Carmen Ting captured the women’s doubles title beating Radhika Sharma-Tanvi Sharma of India 21-16, 21-15. - BERNAMA
