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Badminton: Malaysia Open postponed due to virus surge
Indian star Saina Nehwal might miss out on a place in the Tokyo Olympics. (AFP)
Kuala Lumpur - The postponement of several badminton events have dealt a severe blow to Indian shuttlers hoping to secure Olympic berths
The Malaysia Open badminton tournament due to take place this month has been postponed because of a worsening coronavirus outbreak, organisers said on Friday, leaving only one qualifying event for the Olympics.
The competition was scheduled for May 25-30 but will now happen on future dates which are not yet decided, the Badminton World Federation (BWF) said.
“The recent surge in cases left no choice but to postpone the tournament,” they said in a statement.
Infections have climbed sharply in Malaysia in recent weeks, prompting authorities to tighten curbs in the capital Kuala Lumpur — where the tournament was due to happen.
The BWF confirmed the rescheduled competition would no longer take place in the Olympic qualifying window.
This leaves the Singapore Open from June 1 to 6 as the only qualifying event before the Games, which start in July.
As with other sports, the badminton calendar has been thrown into chaos due to the pandemic, with many events cancelled worldwide in the past year.
The postponement of several badminton events had already dealt a severe blow to Indian shuttlers hoping to secure Olympic berths.
As the current Race to Tokyo rankings stand, only PV Sindhu, Sai Praneeth and the doubles pair of Shetty and Rankireddy can make the cut.
London 2012 bronze medallist Saina Nehwal, who is ranked number 22 in the women’s singles qualification standings, and former world number one Kidambi Srikanth, 20th in the men’s singles list, need to break into the top 16 in their respective categories to gain direct qualification to the Games.
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