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PETALING JAYA: The Thomas Cup and Uber was discontinued for 2020.
After weeks of speculation, the World Badminton Federation (BWF) finally decided not to hold the two tournaments in Aarhus, Denmark from October 3-11 and will postpone them until 2021, with dates to be decided in the near future.
The BWF has also canceled the Danish Masters, which is supposed to be held in Odense from October 20-25 as the second European leg of the rescheduled World Tour.
The only tournament that remains from the previous three-tournament schedule is the Danish Open in Odense from October 13-18.
In a press release issued on Tuesday (September 15), the governing body said the decision was made after the withdrawal of five participating nations, including heavyweights Indonesia and South Korea.
The other three teams were Taiwan, Thailand and Australia, and the teams not only decided not to send their shuttles to the final, but also to the two open matches.
BWF held an emergency virtual council meeting last Sunday.
“The BWF, in full consultation and agreement with local host Badminton Denmark, has made the difficult decision to postpone the TOTAL BWF Thomas and Uber Cup 2020 Finals in Aarhus, Denmark,” said the BWF.
“BWF, in collaboration with Badminton Denmark, has been preparing for many months for a safe return to international badminton.
“This includes doing everything possible to preserve the health and safety of all participants, such as implementing a bubble system to create a safe badminton ecosystem.
However, in light of recent Covid-19 related developments around the world, several teams and individual players have chosen not to travel to Denmark for the tournaments in Aarhus and Odense, a choice that the BWF has to respect and acknowledge.
“These are exceptional circumstances that we find ourselves in and while a return to international badminton remains a priority for the BWF, the health and safety of the entire badminton community is of the utmost importance,” he said.
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