The upcoming BWF World Tour Finals have been shifted from Guangzhou to Bangkok due to COVID-19 and will begin on December 7, a week earlier than originally scheduled, the world badminton body announced on Tuesday.
The tournament, which was slated to start on December 14, was pushed forward due to stadium availability issues.
The season-ending event will now be held at the Nimibutr Arena in Bangkok from December 7 to 11.
“BWF in consultation with the Chinese Badminton Association (CBA) agreed to relocate the HSBC BWF World Tour Finals 2022 due to the various challenges brought about by the current pandemic situation,” the BWF said in a statement.
“BWF would also like to thank the Badminton Association of Thailand for providing a replacement location for the HSBC BWF World Tour Finals 2022 at such late notice.”
BWF added that it will confirm the list of qualified athletes for the tournament on November 22 after the conclusion of the ongoing Australian Open.
HS Prannoy is likely to be India’s only singles representative at the World Tour Finals. Double Olympic medallist PV Sindhu, the only other Indian to qualify for the season-ending event, had pulled out of the tournament on Sunday as she is yet to fully recover from a stress fracture on her left ankle.
Sindhu, who had won the season-ending competition in 2018, has not competed since her gold-medal winning run at the CWG. She had recently returned to training but has decided to take more time to heal ahead of the 2023 season, which starts the Olympic qualification cycle and also has the Asian Games. This year, Sindhu has three titles to her name: the Syed Modi International, the Swiss Open, and the Singapore Open.
