Advising players to view the situation in positive light, Gopichand said: “There are various restrictions in different countries and BWF is doing its best to conduct tournaments.
Pullela Gopichand. Pic/AFP
Chief national badminton coach Pullela Gopichand has welcomed the Badminton World Federation’s (BWF) decision to extend the Tokyo Olympics qualification period by around two months, to June 15, after the postponement of three tournaments due to COVID-19 related restrictions. The qualification period was earlier scheduled to end on April 25.
Dynamic situation
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“This [COVID-19 problem] is a dynamic situation and we don’t know what tomorrow holds for the players. They need to be ready mentally and physically for any future turns of events. I don’t think that this [the current scenario] is a bad one though. I’m happy that sport has resumed,” Gopichand told mid-day on Friday.
‘Stay motivated’
Advising players to view the situation in positive light, Gopichand said: “There are various restrictions in different countries and BWF is doing its best to conduct tournaments. While the dynamic nature of tournaments will continue due to the COVID-19 scare, players need to keep themselves motivated and keep training. Players should compare the current situation to how things were around the same time last year, when they were helpless as nothing was happening.”
Earlier on Friday, in a statement BWF said: “The Olympic Qualifying period for the Race to Tokyo will now close on 15 June 2021, with the last tournament counting for qualification being the Singapore Open 2021.”
Swiss Open in March
The world body said preparations for the Olympic qualifying tournaments will continue as international badminton is set to resume with the Yonex Swiss Open 2021 (March 2-7) and Yonex All England Open 2021 (March 17-21). The development came after the BWF decided to postpone two tournaments—Malaysia and Singapore Open.
“The Malaysia Open 2021 will now occur from 25-30 May. The Malaysia Masters 2021[Super 500] has been postponed until further notice. The Singapore Open 2021 [Super 500] has been moved to the new dates of 1-6 June,” the world body said.
With agency inputs
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