World Junior Badminton Championships 2020 cancelled due to COVID-19

BWF announces revamped 2020 calendar for the upcoming Badminton leagues

The 2020 Badminton World Championship which was all set to start from September-October window in New Zealand has been cancelled due to COVID-19. Keeping the health and security concern in mind it has been shifted to January 2021.

“The entry restrictions in place and complexities related to the COVID-19 situation makes it impossible for the event to be planned and therefore hosted in New Zealand in January 2021 as currently scheduled,” said Badminton World Federation (BWF) Secretary-General Thomas Lund. “With a host for the 2021 already in place…and the uncertainty of the COVID-19 situation expected to stretch into next year, postponement was not an option,” read the BWF statement.

As per the media reports, New Zealand Badminton Federation was committed to host the tournament this year but BWF didn’t take any risk keeping COVID-19 in mind. As the host for 2021, 2022 and 2023 has been decided by the BWF Council meeting held in 2018 making 2024 the next available year. The BWF expressed regret to the players who will be affected. The International Governing Body has given new hosting rights to New Zealand In 2024.

“We appreciate that some junior players will turn 19 years old in 2021 and unfortunately miss out on a BWF World Junior Championships experience. We can only encourage them to continue to develop their talent as badminton athletes and start to enter open international events. It has been a difficult and extraordinary year during the pandemic but we all look forward to a more consistent junior international badminton calendar in 2021 and the next BWF World Junior Championships in China in October 2021,” said Thomas Lund.

The Badminton World Federation is an international governing body founded in 1934 with nine member nations(Canada, Denmark, England, France, Ireland, Netherlands, New Zealand, Scotland and Wales). The BWF currently has 176 member nations around the world, organized into 5 continental confederations. They adopted their own logo in 2007. However, in 2012 they adopted a new streamlined logo.