The Badminton World Federation (BWF) on Thursday announced that Hyderabad Open has been cancelled in the wake of coronavirus pandemic that continues to create havoc around the globe.
The tournament was part of the revamped calendar put forward by BWF last month and it was scheduled to take place from August 11 to 16.
“Circumstances have and will continue to change in certain countries and territories and therefore BWF may be required to make further updates to the status of tournaments as and when necessary,” BWF general secretary Thomas Lund was quoted as saying in the statement uploaded on BWF official website.
“These changes announced today are necessary but do not directly impact the new BWF Tournament Calendar 2020, which was created to allow for changes as part of our framework for badminton’s potential return.”
Apart from Hyderabad Open, Australia Open and Korea Masters have also been cancelled. Meanwhile, three tournaments — German Open, Swiss Open and European Masters remain — suspended and BWF stated announcement regarding the fate of these tournaments will be made in due course.
“Health, safety and movement restrictions are now quite varied across the globe as certain countries and territories slowly return to a new normal,” Lund said.
“We will continue to adjust to these changes to ensure any badminton activity 100% complies to the rules and regulations of the World Health Organization (WHO), local health authorities, and international and domestic travel restrictions.”
The coronavirus pandemic has brought the entire world to a standstill and the sporting arena is no exception. Most of the high profile tournaments including the Tokyo Olympics 2020 stand postponed.
Even the biggest cricketing spectacle on the planet, the Indian Premier League (IPL), stands suspended indefinitely owing to the coronavirus pandemic. Recently, Bundesliga became the first high-profile sporting event to resume after a 65 day period with almost no sporting activity.
A few cricketing boards around the world have only recently granted permission to their players to resume training.
The move to restart sporting leagues and tournaments come after governments are beginning to realise that the coronavirus is here to stay for quite some time and sports among other businesses will need to find a way to co-exist with it.
The virus has already infected more than 6.5 million people around the world while claiming over 3.8 lakh lives. There is still no sure shot treatment of the disease and social-distancing, self-isolation and maintenance of basic hand hygiene remain the only potent weapons of protecting oneself from contracting the infection.
(With inputs from IANS)