October event cancelled, now Syed Modi badminton in January 2022
LUCKNOW: The Syed Modi International Super 300 Tournament will now be held from January 11 to 16 next year at the UP Badminton Academy in Lucknow as the Uttar Pradesh Badminton Association proposed the new dates to the Badminton World Federation after it cancelled the event for the second year in a row.
The tournament, which was also cancelled last year due to the Covid-19 pandemic, was initially scheduled to be held in the state capital from October 12 to 17. But in view of the possible third wave of the pandemic, the BWF decided to cancel the event for this year.
“Now, the event will be played in January 2022 and we had no other option but to cancel this year’s event,” UPBA secretary Arun Kakkar said on Thursday.
“We have been advised by the district administration not to conduct the event in October as everybody is expecting a possible third wave of the pandemic,” he added.
The January event would be played before empty stands as BWF has decided to enforce tough protocols and denied the entry of fans as well as VIPs.
“It’s going to be quite tough and expensive as around 150 people, including players, technical officials, staff, will have to be quarantined before the start of the event,” said UPBA treasurer Sudharma Singh on Thursday.
“We have to create a secure bio bubble for everyone,” he added.
A few weeks ago, on UPBA’s request, the Badminton Association of India (BAI) had reportedly written to BWF for the cancellation of the event in October.
“We were continuously trying to get the local authorities for clearance, in regard to Covid 19 pandemic, for hosting the event in Lucknow. Since Govt is not allowing us to hold the event in the scheduled dates, we request your esteemed to kindly cancel the Syed Modi India International 2021,” BAI’s mail to BWF states.
“Further to August’s announcement detailing updates to the BWF Tournament Calendar 2021, the Badminton World Federation (BWF) can confirm Syed Modi India International 2021 is now cancelled,” BWF states on Thursday while announcing the cancellation of the October’s event.
BWF, which has had to cancel several tournaments due to Covid-19 complications and restrictions, however, did not specify the exact reason for calling off the tournament in India.
But sources confirmed that shuttlers weren’t “expected” to come for the Modi tourney as there was a clash with the scheduling of the Thomas and Uber Cup Finals, which are scheduled to be played from October 9 to 17 at Aarhus in Denmark.
“Tournament organisers Badminton Association of India (BAI) made the decision in consultation and collaboration with local government authorities and BWF. The world body regrets the cancellation but remains committed to delivering a safe and structured series of badminton tournaments for the rest of the year including the culmination to the HSBC BWF World Tour,” the statement reads.
Last month, the governing body had cancelled the Korea Open (August 31- September 5), Macau Open (November 2 -7) and Taipei Open (September 7-12) due to “complications regarding the staging” of the event in wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
China Open (September 21-26), Japan Open (September 28-October 3), Fuzhou China Open (November 9-14) and Hong Kong Open (November 16-21) were the other important events which were cancelled due to the global health crisis.
The event had Grand Prix status for the first two years in 2009 and 2010, and thereafter it was given the status of the Grand Prix Gold due to its higher prize money status. Only in 2018, the event with a prize money of US $ 200,000, attained the BWF World Tour Super 300 Status.