Putting all speculations to rest, the Badminton World Federation (BWF) has decided to postpone the Thomas Cup and Uber Cup scheduled at Aarhus (Denmark) from October 3 to 11.
After a number of teams and players withdrew citing safety concerns owing to the ongoing pandemic, the BWF decided to put off the premier team event until next year.
The Denmark Open (October 13-18) is still on schedule but the Denmark Masters (October 20-25) stands cancelled.
Meanwhile, the Badminton Association of India (BAI) secretary Ajay Singhania said, “BAI stands by this decision taken by the BWF considering the health and safety of all concerned.”
“It is good that the organisers have taken this decision. Player safety is important and it is not the right time to play and take a huge risk on the health front,” World champion P.V. Sindhu told The Hindu in Hyderabad.
Vimal blames Asian nations
Former India coach Vimal Kumar, however, blamed the withdrawals by Asian nations like Indonesia and Korea for the postponement calling it a “big setback” for the sport.
“We are not as big as China but India stood positive, we wanted to participate but if big countries don’t play, what can BWF do? How will they conduct events? I’ll blame the Asian nations for this mess, ” said Vimal.
Meanwhile, some leading Indian shuttlers said they were doubtful starters for the Denmark Open since it may not be productive and safe to go all the way for one tournament.
(with inputs from V.V. Subrahmanyam & PTI)
