KUALA LUMPUR – The Badminton World Federation (BWF) World Tour Finals has been relocated to Bangkok, Thailand, replacing Guangzhou, China as the host.
The tournament will now take place at the Nimibutr Arena from December 7 to 11.
According to BWF, this decision was made due to the current Covid-19 situation in China.
At the same time, BWF decided to bring forward the tournament, initially scheduled from December 14-18 to December 7-11 due to stadium availability and the consequences of the change in location, BWF said.
“BWF in consultation with the Chinese Badminton Association (CBA) agreed to relocate the BWF 2022 World Tour Finals due to the various challenges brought about by the current pandemic situation.
“BWF would like to thank CBA, Guangzhou City government, and Guangzhou Sports Bureau for their extraordinary work,” BWF said in a statement.
They also thanked the BA of Thailand for providing a replacement location for the World Tour Finals at such late notice.
BWF added that the list of qualified shuttlers for the World Tour Finals will be confirmed on November 22 after the conclusion of the Australian Open.
Meanwhile, world no. 2 men’s singles player Lee Zii Jia will have one last chance to qualify for the season-ending tournament if he does well in Australia this week.
At the same time, national players who have already qualified for World Tour finals are men’s doubles world champions Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik, Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi, Commonwealth Games women’s doubles gold medallists Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah, Vivian Hoo-Lim Chiew Sien, and mixed doubles pairs Tan Kian Meng-Lai Pei Jing, Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai have qualified for the finals in Bangkok. – The Vibes, November 15, 2022
