Lingshui Masters postponed, out of Tokyo qualifying period

The Badminton World Federation (BWF) announced today that they and the Chinese Badminton Association (CBA) had decided to postpone the Lingshui China Masters amid concerns over the outbreak of the novel coronavirus known as 2019-nCoV.

The BWF press release stated that the two governing bodies had “considered all necessary health, safety and logistical risks and both parties believe it is sensible to postpone the tournament at this time.”

The BWF has yet to determine replacement dates but it is possible that the new time slot for the the tournament – which was due to be held from February 25th to 1 March 1st – will be in May 2020.  In other words, the qualifying period for the 2020 Olympic Games now has only only Super 100 event remaining, this being the Orleans Masters in late March.

The island of Hainan, on which the event was scheduled to be held, has had only 58 confirmed cases of the new virus, including one death and one recovery; however, local media outlets reported that the Indonesian, Malaysian, and Korean teams had all announced decisions to pull out of the event, as uncertainty continues to surround the breadth and rapidity of the outbreak and regional travel becomes increasingly tightened with passenger screening and other precautions.

The BWF says it “is mindful that HSBC BWF World Tour and other BWF-sanctioned tournaments may be affected, but there are no concrete plans or decisions at this point to change the status of any other events”. The press release also repeated the BWF’s earlier statement that the Badminton Asia Confederation was reviewing the status of the 2020 Badminton Asia Championships, which are scheduled to be staged in late April in Wuhan, China, deemed to be the epicentre of the 2019-nCoV outbreak.

The Lingshui China Masters was to be the first Super 100 event of 2020 and the international season debut for young Chinese talents such as Gao Fangjie (pictured) and Guo Xinwa, as well as for dozens of young players from Korea and elsewhere.  Others, such as Pan Am Junior Champion Brian Yang and Oceania Champion Wendy Chen, were no doubt counting on the direly-needed ranking points from such an event toward their Olympic qualification hopes.

It is the third event to be removed from Olympic qualifying in the month of February.  The Lao International Series was cancelled several weeks ago, then the Iran Fajr International Challenge status was changed such that the tournament will continue and will grant ranking points, but the points will not count toward Tokyo.

Photo: Badmintonphoto