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Badminton World Federation (BWF) has officially announced the postponement of the TOTAL BWF Thomas & Uber Cup Finals 2020, that was going to be held in Aarhus, Denmark from October 3 -11.
The announcement from the federation comes as a result of withdrawals from multiple teams, citing concerns surrounding the COVID-19 crisis. Yesterday, speculation was rife about the imminent announcement of the postponement as multiple-time champions Indonesia announced their withdrawal from the tournaments.
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Teams from countries such as South Korea, Australia, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore and Thailand had already announced their withdrawals before Indonesia. Defending Thomas Cup champions China and Uber Cup champions Japan were also set to pull out of the tournament.
The official statement by the BWF stated that the organisation was undertaking a lot of measures to create the "bio-bubble" to conduct the tournament while keeping in mind the health and safety precautions for the athletes. However, the withdrawal of a majority of the top teams has made them reconsider and postpone the tournament.
The BWF had called an emergency virtual meeting this past Sunday to discuss the situation at hand, and this announcement comes as a result of it.
A statement read:
"Therefore, after lengthy discussions with key stakeholders, commercial partners and participating Member Associations, it has been realised that we are not in a position to deliver the level of competition reasonably expected by fans and all stakeholders, and as a result have decided that we will not stage this year's TOTAL BWF Thomas and Uber Finals on the dates 3-11 October 2020"
The federation is considering alternative dates for the rescheduling of the Thomas and Uber Cup Finals, which will likely be in 2021.
BWF also stated that the Denmark Open 2020, slated to take place in Odense from 13-18 October, will be held as planned. It will mark the return of international badminton action after the COVID-19 pandemic brought everything to a halt.
The Denmark Masters 2020, the second event planned in Odense from 20-25 October, has been cancelled, as per the statement released by BWF.
