The India Open Super 500 badminton event has been postponed indefinitely due to the rising cases of Covid-19 in New Delhi, Badminton Association of India (BAI) normal secretary Ajay Kumar Singhania mentioned in a digital press convention on Monday.
“As you know, there is a lockdown in Delhi from midnight today to the 26th of this month and even after that we don’t know what the situation will be. It is a serious situation and after talking to all stakeholders we have come to a decision that it will not be right to organise the tournament,” mentioned Singhania.
The Badminton World Federation additionally made the announcement in a press release on Monday.
“Tournament organisers Badminton Association of India (BAI) have postponed the YONEX-SUNRISE India Open 2021 scheduled for 11-16 May 2021,” mentioned the BWF.
“All attempts were made by organisers to conduct a safe tournament environment for all participants, but the recent spike in COVID-19 cases and gravity of the situation in Delhi left BAI no choice but to postpone the tournament,” it additional mentioned.
The India Open was a part of the qualification cycle for this yr’s Tokyo Olympics. The event was postponed final yr as properly due to the pandemic and was ultimately cancelled.
“This decision was taken only today and we have been working hard to get this tournament going for the past few days. It would have been a great tournament for our Olympic hopefuls as well. But the situation is very bad. there is a shortage of beds in New Delhi, there are doubts over whether test results are dependable or not. We tried a lot but then we are a victim of the circumstances. Our priority has to be the health of the players, officials and our tournament organisers,” mentioned Singhania.
“It is quite disappointing that we are having to postpone this tournament for a second consecutive time. I am fully confident that we will be able to organise it whenever the circumstances allow it,” he mentioned.
