The Chinese Badminton Association (CBA) decided not to send players to the three BWF tournaments held in Thailand in January 2021. The three tournaments are Asia Open I, Asia Open II and the BWF World Tour Finals.
The certainty of China withdrawing from the three tournaments was confirmed directly by the President of the Badminton Association of Thailand, Khunying Patama Leeswadtrakul. According to Patama, China chose to resign because the local government banned flights abroad due to the corona virus pandemic. “Through a virtual conference, CBA apologized for having to withdraw from the tournament because of Covid-19 concerns,” Patama was quoted as saying on the website of The Nation Thailand, Tuesday (29/12/2020).
Asia Open I, Asia Open II, and BWF World Tour Finals are actually three BWF tournaments for the 2020 calendar. The three tournaments should be held at the end of 2020. However, the corona virus pandemic has made BWF decide to postpone the three tournaments until January 2021.
BWF World Tour Finals in January will be the first edition without the presence of a single Chinese player in the last 13 years or since 2008. China’s decision to withdraw from the BWF World Tour Finals benefits the mixed doubles of Indonesia, Praveen Jordan / Melati Daeva Oktavianti.
The pair who won the 2019 SEA Games gold medal will be the second seed in the BWF World Tour Finals. This is because two Chinese representatives, Zheng Si Wei / Huang Ya Qiong and Wang Yi Lyu / Huang Dong Ping, have certainly not appeared.
Praveen / Melati is the second seed behind the Thai pair, Dechapol Puavaranukroh / Sapsiree Taerattanachai. Before appearing in the BWF World Tour Finals, Praveen / Melati will participate in Asia Open I and Asia Open II along with 32 other Indonesian players who have registered.
The Indonesian squad for Asia Open I and Asia Open II in Thailand includes 5 men’s singles, 5 women’s singles, 6 men’s doubles, 2 women’s doubles, and 4 mixed doubles. Famous names of Indonesian badminton players such as Anthony Sinisuka Ginting, Marcus Fernaldi Gideon, Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo, and Greysia Polii are confirmed to go to Thailand.
The following is the full schedule for the three BWF postponed tournaments to be held in Thailand next year:
January 12-17: Asia Open
January 19-24: Asia Open
January 27-31: BWF World Tour Finals
