(Reuters) – The Badminton World Federation (BWF) said on Friday this year’s U.S. Open and Canada Open have been cancelled due to COVID-19 restrictions.
The U.S. Open, a Super 300 tournament on the BWF World Tour, was due to take place from July 6-11, while the Canada Open, a Super 100 event, was slated for June 29-July 4.
“The ongoing COVID-19 restrictions and complications left local organisers no choice but to cancel the tournaments,” BWF said in a statement.
The cancellations come in the wake of Badminton Asia’s decision to postpone its flagship competition, the Badminton Asia Championships, which were to serve as an Olympic qualifying event.
Since it is not possible to reschedule the continental championship within the qualification period, the points will no longer be included and no replacement tournament will be added, the BWF said.
The Race to Tokyo, which resumed at this month’s Swiss Open, will close on June 15, with the Singapore Open serving as the last tournament for qualification.
(Reporting by Arvind Sriram in Bengaluru; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
