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PETALING JAYA: The Thomas-Uber Cup Finals are practically off.
The Finals, scheduled to take place in Aarhus, Denmark on October 3-11, will take place after next year’s Olympics in Tokyo.
Sources confirm that this was the majority consensus during the virtual meeting of the emergency council of the World Badminton Federation (BWF) yesterday, following a series of withdrawals due to concerns about the Covid-19 pandemic.
The world body will make an official announcement shortly after another meeting to reaffirm things.
The withdrawal of Indonesia, a 13-time Thomas Cup champion and a three-time Uber Cup champion, made all the difference.
His absence had diluted the quality of the competitions and it became known that one of the requirements of the sponsors is to have the three best teams in the fray.
Indonesia is the first seeded team in the Thomas Cup. The other teams, who have also withdrawn are South Korea, Thailand, Taiwan and Australia.
The best teams in China and Japan, the defending Thomas Cup and Uber Cup champions, had also been thinking about retiring.
The world body had tried to save the tournament by including Finland and Sweden, but it was still not good enough as they are not considered top ranked teams.
It will be the third time the finals have been postponed this year.
It was first assigned from May 16-24 and then moved to August 15-23 before the October date.
The postponement is expected to generate mixed reactions as some of the players were hoping to play competitive badminton, but for some, it will be good news as they have raised concerns about their safety and their trip to Aarhus.
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