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The Badminton World Federation (BWF) has confirmed the withdrawal of top Japanese badminton players from the Denmark Open 2020 due to concerns surrounding the rising cases of COVID-19 in Europe.
The list of Japanese shuttlers who have withdrawn from the tournament includes World No. 1 ranked Men's singles player Kento Momota and World No. 3 ranked Women's singles player Akane Yamaguchi.
The Denmark Open 2020, which is scheduled to be held from October 13 - 18 in Odense, will mark the return of international badminton action after the BWF tour was halted in March owing to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In addition to the withdrawals of Momota and Yamaguchi, the following players will not travel to Denmark for the BWF Super 750 tournament.
Men's Singles - Kanta Tsuneyama, Koki Watanabe
Women's Singles - Sayaka Takahashi, Aya Ohori
Men's Doubles - Hiroyuki Endo/Yuta Watanabe, Akira Koga/Taichi Saito, Takuro Hoki/Yugo Kobayashi, Takeshi Kamura/Keigo Sonoda
Mixed Doubles - Akira Koga/Nami Matsuyama, Yuta Watanabe/Arisa Higashino, Takuro Hoki/Wakana Nagahara
World No. 4 ranked Nozomi Okuhara will be in action in Denmark Open 2020
Japanese shuttler Nozomi Okuhara, ranked World No. 4 in Women's singles, will be in action on the court in Odense. She will be a top contender for the title after the slew of withdrawals.
Some of the other top players who have confirmed their participation are World No. 16 in Men's Singles Kenta Nishimoto, World Champions Women's Doubles players Mayu Matsumoto/Wakana Nagahara, All England Champions Yuki Fukushima/Sayaka Hirota and Korea Masters Champions Nami Matsuyama/Chiharu Shida.
The Denmark Open 2020 also saw top Indian shuttlers such as Saina Nehwal, PV Sindhu and Parupalli Kashyap confirm their withdrawals.
