The Olympics, the World Championships, the Thomas and Uber Cup Finals and the Sudirman Cup for the first time are scheduled for the same calendar year.
Many players including Lee Chong Wei had previously shared concerns over the hectic tournament schedule for 2021. The Badminton World Federation (BWF) has finally addressed this concern in a recent virtual meeting.
Secretary General of the BWF Thomas Lund said the 2021 schedule was a clear challenge but one that the BWF believed was possible.
Lund said, “We’re looking at a holistic approach on how we can revise and reschedule certain things in the calendar to make it viable for 2021…We will monitor the situation and see how we can stage as many tournaments as possible.”
He continued that the upcoming 2021 calendar would be hectic with the four major tournaments and other World Tour tournaments but he affirmed that the BWF had to consider and “protect the livelihood of lower-tier players.”
As quoted by The Star, Lund: “It isn’t just about our best 32 players, we also have our second layer of athletes who we need to think about. Those in the top 50, top 100 and beyond, we need to find ways for them to compete as well.”