Parupalli Kahsyap has taken to twitter to address a few concerns regarding the cancellation of tournaments due to the threat of Covid-19.
In his tweet, Kashyap said, “If at all the virus is contained and slowly everything comes back to normalcy in a few months and the Olympics takes place on same dates then the BWF and the IOC have to revise and extend the qualification dates…”
According to Kashyap, the cancellation of tournaments is completely unfair to the “many athletes who are borderline of qualification at this moment.”
Kashyap is currently 24 in the BWF Olympic qualification rankings. To qualify for the Olympics, he will need to reach the top 16 of the rankings and become the highest or second-highest ranked Indian player at the same time.
The Olympic qualification period ends on 28 April.
Counting the All England there is a total of eight major tournaments playable till the deadline (including Badminton Asia Championship and European Championship).
But as the situation stands, other tournaments might get cancelled as well.
Considering only 10 best tournaments within the qualification period are counted for rankings (& qualification), Kashyap’s tweet puts into perspective the ongoing situation.
Should BWF and IOC extend the qualifying period because of the unforeseen situation?
The Tokyo Olympics start on 24 July. This is a good three months from the 28 April deadline.
If the deadline is extended until the end of June, New Zealand Open, Thomas and Uber Cup, Australia Badminton Open, Thailand Open and Indonesia Open will all come under the qualification period.
BWF had however issued an official statement on their website on 28 February stating that there are no plans in altering any regulations regarding the Olympics qualifications.
“Any change to the existing Olympic qualification rules will affect different players both positively or negatively, and with the present level of postponement and cancellation, BWF does not believe that making changes is appropriate”
Will there be any room for changes later on if more tournaments get cancelled remains to be seen as of now.