Junior champs cancelled

Badminton: The cancellation of the 2020 junior world championships in Auckland highlighted the complexities of trying to organise sporting events during the Covid19 pandemic, Badminton New Zealand said yesterday.

The January 1124 event, which had originally been scheduled for September 28 until October 11 before being moved to early next year, was cancelled yesterday. It was unable to be delayed further with the 2021 event scheduled for China in SeptemberOctober.

About 400 players had been expected to arrive for the tournament with that number rising by at least another 200300 people with coaches, support staff and BWF officials flying in, BNZ chief executive Joe Hitchcock said. All would have had to spend 14days in isolation upon arrival, the cost to be met by organisers. — Reuters