German, Polish Opens cancelled, German Junior to proceed

Badminton Europe confirmed yesterday that the German Open Super 300 and the Polish Open had both been cancelled due to concerns over the Covid-19 outbreak.

By Don Hearn.  Photos: Badmintonphoto

Yesterday, Badminton Europe published a press release from the German Badminton Association (DBV) on the cancellation of the German Open Super 300, which was scheduled to take place March 3rd to 8th.  This is the largest badminton event to date that has been cancelled on account of the concerns surrounding the outbreak of the Covid-19 virus.

The statement explains that the decision came from the host city of Mülheim an der Ruhr, after health authorities there deemed the virus “an incalculable risk for athletes and visitors”.  It also points out that the German Junior Open – also scheduled for next week but 500km away in Berlin – was still expected to go ahead as planned.

While the Chinese contingent had pulled out of the German Junior before the entry deadline of February 4th, the senior team had stayed with the German Open and even travelled to England in advance of the German and All England Opens in order to avoid issues with traveller quarantine that had blocked their participation in the Badminton Asia Team Championships.  Many of the players entered in the German Junior are already playing in the Dutch Junior International, including athletes from Korea, which has the largest number of people infected by the Covid-19 virus outside of China.

Late in the day on Wednesday, Badminton Europe also announced the cancellation of the Polish Open.  The International Challenge event was to have been held from March 26th to 29th in Kraków.  Although both events are described as ‘cancelled’, the press releases for both the German and Polish Opens mention the possibility of alternate dates being announced later.

This brings to 4 the number of events that have been deleted from the Olympic qualifying process.  Previously, the Lingshui China Masters Super 100 and then this week the Hanoi International Challenge suffered similar fates.  The Vietnam event is the only one that already has a new date specified.  While two Polish singles players are still just chasing Olympic qualification, German athletes are tentatively qualified in all but one discipline and Mark Lamsfuss and Isabel Herttrich (pictured) are the last mixed doubles pair still hanging onto a non-continental spot.

Germany to date has had only 27 cases of Covid-19 infections, more than half of whom have recovered, while at the time of writing, Poland is still free of infections, and clearly hopes to remain that way.