IOC approves Singapore Open as final Tokyo Olympics badminton qualification event

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) on Monday gave its nod to the revised badminton qualification rules, nearly a week after the Badminton World Federation (BWF) extended the Tokyo Olympics qualification period to June 15. The qualification period was earlier scheduled to end on April 25.

The final qualifying event for the Tokyo Olympics will be Singapore Open, which will be played from June 1-6. Post the five-day tournament, the qualification for Tokyo Olympics will be based on rankings released on June 15.

List of badminton qualifying events for Tokyo Olympics

In an official statement, BWF had assured that the Tokyo Olympics qualification period will restart with the resumption of the tour at the Swiss Open, starting March 2nd.

B Sai Praneeth

The extension of the qualification period came after the world body postponed the Malaysia and the Singapore Open tournaments. The Malaysia Open 2021 (Super 750) will now be played from May 25-30, while Singapore Open 2021 (Super 500) has been rescheduled for June 1-6. The Malaysia Masters (Super 500), however, stands postponed until further notice.

A maximum of two entries by each nation in all the events will be allowed. The singles events will feature 38 men and women, while 16 pairs will play in each of the men's, women's and mixed doubles categories. The top 16 singles players and the top 8 doubles pairs will automatically qualify for the Tokyo Olympics, starting from July 23.

The Indian shuttlers currently looking to seal a Tokyo Olympic berth are P V Sindhu and B Sai Praneeth in the singles events, and the Satwiksairaj Rankireddy -Chirag Shetty pair in men's doubles.