Kuala Lumpur: The Badminton World Federation (BWF) has published the initial 2021 BWF World Tour calendar, outlining series of tournaments for the first and second quarters of the 2021 season as badminton continues to navigate its return and to minimize the health risk during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The opening week of the 2021 season will start with the 2020 Yonex Thailand Open in Bangkok, from Jan 12 to Jan 17, 2021, while the Olympic Qualifying period for the Race to Tokyo will kick off with the Swiss Open, from March 2 to March 7, 2021. The Olympic qualification period will be played until May 16, 2021, at the Indian Open.

See below for the Q1 and Q2 BWF Tournament Calendar 2021:

BWF Tournament Calendar 2021

Grades 1 | Grade 2

Grade 3 (only Olympic Qualifying Listed)

As at 21 December 2020

“The focus has been to establish cluster tournaments where possible similar to what is planned for the Asian Leg in January in Thailand and we expect to stage a number of tournaments this way to ensure a more feasible tournament programme in 2021,” said BWF Secretary General Thomas Lund.

“The Covid-19 situation continues to provide a challenging environment in which to run international tournaments, and although the hope is that the COVID-19 vaccine may in time create a world with less restrictions, BWF expects that the pandemic will still influence tournament hosting throughout the whole of 2021,” added Lund.

In regards to other major championships, BWF also confirmed that the 2020 TOTAL BWF Thomas & Uber Cup Finals will now take place in Aarhus, Denmark in Week 41 followed by the 2021 DANISA Denmark Open in Odense, Denmark during Week 42.

Meanwhile, BWF still in discussion with the Chinese Badminton Association and the host city of Suzhou to figure out the best timing in organizing the 2021 BWF Sudirman Cup. BWF said it will soon publish the calendar for the rest of 2021 including the tournament schedule after the Tokyo Olympic.