India Open set for May 2021; to be final qualifying event for Tokyo Olympics
AP Photo/Vincent Thian
Fewer tournaments, possibly less prize money and a ten-week Olympic qualifying window, ending with the India Open in May - these are the highlights of the revised badminton calendar for 2021. India s best players, including PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwal, will return to action next month with three tournaments in south-east Asia.
The India Open will run from May 11-16, and serve as the final event in the Tokyo Olympic qualifying period in 2021, the Badminton World Federation (BWF) announced on Monday. Apart from revisions to the calendar, which sees some tournament dates being pushed and a handful of Grade 2 events cancelled, the focus of the world body, according to its secretary Thomas Lund, has been to establish cluster tournaments where possible , similar to the Asian Leg in January next year.