New Delhi: The Badminton World Federation (BWF) on Wednesday said it might freeze the world rankings for a while as it works on a “fair solution” to the Olympic qualification process after the COVID-19 pandemic forced a postponement of the Tokyo Games.
There have been growing calls to freeze the world rankings after cancellations and postponements wrecked the sport’s calendar. Indian shuttlers Saina Nehwal, B Sai Praneeth, Parupalli Kashyap and H S Prannoy have been leading the way in expressing concerns.
“For our athletes, we will review any impacts on the Olympic and Paralympic qualification system to ensure a fair solution is found to qualify players for the postponed Games,” the BWF said in a statement. “BWF, in the short-term, is also looking into the possibility of freezing World Rankings until international tournaments start again.
“However, we are still working on the technical solution to ensure the freezing and eventual un-freezing of World Rankings works fairly for all players and we will announce this shortly.”
Shuttlers in the singles competition have to be inside top-16 of world rankings to qualify for the Olympics. In doubles, a country can field one pair if they are in the top 16 and two if both pairs are in the top eight. The BWF welcomed the International Olympic Committee (IOC)’s decision to postpone the Olympics, originally scheduled from July 24 to August 9, to next year in the wake of the pandemic, which has caused nearly 19,000 deaths worldwide. “Today, we stand in solidarity with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and International Paralympic Committee (IPC) in welcoming the postponement of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games,” the statement said.
“BWF fully supports the decision made yesterday by IOC President Thomas Bach, Prime Minister of Japan Shinzo Abe, and the Tokyo Organising Committee (TOCOG) to reschedule the Games to a date beyond 2020 but no later than summer 2021. (PTI)
