From Wuhan to Manila: Badminton Asia moves its championships

Badminton Asia (BA) issued a press release today confirming that the Badminton Asia Championships will be held in Manila next month, the last big tournament in the Olympic qualifying period.

Photos: Badmintonphoto

After more than a month of speculation, it was confirmed today that the Badminton Asia Championships will indeed move to Manila, the Philippines from Wuhan, China.  The event – which carries world ranking points equivalent to a Super 500 event, thus yielding 9200 points to any winner – will be held in its original slot on the calendar, which is from April 21st to 26th.  Three continents will be holding their individual championships that week, but the Asian event is the most competitive and has the biggest potential impact on ranking points for the Tokyo Olympics.

Obviously, concerns began early this year when Wuhan was at the centre of the outbreak of the Covid-19 novel coronavirus.  The Philippines was one of the most stringent in its response to the problem, banning all foreign arrivals from China, Hong Kong, and Macau after 3 Chinese travellers were confirmed to have contracted the virus.  One gentleman became the first patient to die of the disease outside of China, a day before the government imposed the travel ban.  Since then, the Philippines has had no further confirmed Covid-19 cases.

The travel ban prevented teams from China and Hong Kong from participating in the 2020 Badminton Asia Men’s and Women’s Championships, another event that was moved to Manila after having been originally scheduled to take place in Singapore.  Since that early February event, the travel restrictions have changed somewhat, but still, travellers arriving from China or Hong Kong are barred from entering the country, while those arriving from Korea will be quarantined for 14 days if they cannot provide proof that they have not been in Daegu or North Gyeongsang Province in the previous 2 weeks.

The Badminton Asia press release says, “Badminton Asia together with Philippine Badminton Association has been working closely to ensure visa approval for player and officials’ entry into Manila for all participants.”

Most of the players from Korea and China who are likely to be competing at the tournament will be on the road for much of the next few weeks.  All of the so-called Top Committed Players are required to compete in the Malaysia Open from March 31st to May 5th and most plan to continue down to play the Singapore Open the following week, leaving one week off before the event in Manila.