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The Asian leg of the badminton tournaments will see Thailand host three marquee events in January 2021.
BWF President Poul-Erik Hoyer and Secretary General Thomas Lund virtually met the BWF Deputy President and President of Badminton Association of Thailand, KhunyingPatama Leeswadtrakul to confirm the schedule for the Asian leg.
Bangkok is set to host a couple of Super 1000 competitions in the space of two weeks. The first tournament will begin on 12th January and end on 17th, while the second one will commence on 19th January, with its final scheduled for 24th January.
The season-ending BWF World Tour Finals will take place from 27th to 31st January in the Thai capital as well.
The badminton tour resumed in Denmark earlier this month following a long break because of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, a majority of the events since then have had to be canceled owing to the testing situation.
Talking about the Asian leg of the BWF badminton world tour, President Hoyer said:
"The Asian leg presents an important opportunity for us to kickstart badminton's successful return and to see our players back in action. Thailand has a strong history of organising major badminton tournaments and we trust our hosts to deliver a spectacular month of badminton in January 2021. Together we have the chance to make badminton shine once again on the international sports calendar."
Thailand's sports and tourism ministry is hopeful that these three tournaments will stabilize their economic situation in 2021. HSBC Thailand CEO Kelvin Tan was delighted at this announcement as he said:
"We are pleased to see the safe return of international badminton to Asia - a sport that means a lot to us and our customers across the region. We'd also like to thank BWF and the tournament hosts in Thailand for enabling these sporting events to go ahead with the health and safety of fans and players as a firm priority. We look forward to supporting an exciting month of badminton in January 2021."
BWF Thailand tour schedule for January 2021
YONEX Thailand Open (Super 1000): 12-17 January 2021
TOYOTA Thailand Open (Super 1000): 19-24 January 2021
HSBC BWF World Tour Finals 2020: 27-31 January 2021
