Syed Modi International Super 300 tournament to be held in October but BWF cancels India Open and Hyderabad Open

The Syed Modi India International BWF Super 300 tournament will mark the comeback of international badminton tournaments in India. It is one of the oldest badminton tournaments in India and will be held in Lucknow from October 12-17.

However, it was a major disappointment for badminton fans as the Indian Open Super 500 and Hyderabad Open Super 100 tournaments were canceled by the BWF.

The Badminton World Federation (BWF) announced a revamped international calendar on Monday to salvage whatever is left of a season negatively affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The USD 400,000 India Open, which was supposed to be one of the qualifiers for the Tokyo Olympics, was scheduled to be held from May 11 to 16. However, it was canceled by the BWF due to the pandemic. The Hyderabad Open was scheduled to be held from August 24 to 29 but BWF has decided to cancel that as well.

“A number of tournaments previously classified as postponed from Q1 and Q2 or originally slated for Q3 and Q4 of 2021 have subsequently been cancelled,” BWF said in a statement.

Finland will host the Sudirman Cup Finals, says BWF

Finland will host the Sudirman Cup Finals in September-October while the season-ending World Tour Finals will be staged in Indonesia.

China was slated to host both the Sudirman Cup Final and the World Tour Finals, but the BWF decided to move both the events out of the country due to COVID-19 restrictions.

The apex body also decided to push for the prestigious World Championships, to be held in Spain, in two weeks.

“COVID-19 restrictions have meant it is not feasible to conduct tournaments in China this year. Therefore, alternative host cities have been identified for the TotalEnergies BWF Sudirman Cup Finals 2021 and the HSBC BWF World Tour Finals 2021,” BWF said.

Vantaa, Finland will be the new host of the BWF Sudirman Cup Finals 2021 (to be held from September 26-October 3, 2021).

The action will then shift to Denmark, which will host the Thomas & Uber Cup Finals 2020 in Aarhus (October 9-17). It will be followed by multiple World Tour events -- the DANISA Denmark Open in Odense (October 19-24), the YONEX French Open in Paris (October 26-31), and the SaarLorLux Open in Saarbrücken, Germany (November 2-7).

BWF to create bio-bubble in Indonesia for Asian leg

The BWF will then create a bio-bubble in Indonesia, similar to Thailand, to host a three-tournament Asian Leg in Bali, including the World Tour Finals. The Indonesia Masters and Indonesia Open will be held from November 16-21 to November 23-28, followed by the World Tour Finals from December 1-5.

“The final tournament of the calendar year will be the Total Energies BWF World Championships in Huelva, Spain in Week 50 (December 12 to 19, 2021),” said BWF.