Announcement

BWF Freezes the World Rankings / World Junior Rankings

The BWF has announced today that it will freeze the World Rankings and World Junior Rankings until further notice.

The COVID-19 outbreak has meant that there have been an unprecedented number of international tournaments suspended from mid-march 2020 to the end of April 2020.

Key points are:

  • The freezing of rankings will be backdated to Week 12, the week following the last international tournament that was played – the YONEX All England Open 2020.
  • The ranking lists issued on 17 March 2020 will serve as a basis for entry and seeding into the next international tournaments. It is however difficult to predict when the next international tournament will take place with further tournaments also expected to be suspended in May and June.
  • BWF is seeking to define a solution to unfreeze the rankings in a staggered way to avoid any extreme drop off of points from previous tournaments causing an extreme impact on the ranking structure.
  • BWF is liaising closely with the Athletes’ Commission on the unfortunate impacts of the COVID-19 situation upon players. The Athletes’ Commission fully supports the freezing of the BWF World Ranking lists from Week 12, and agrees that the exact procedure for unfreezing the rankings will need to be determined based on more exact tournament calendar information presently under review.

BWF hopes to communicate more information on rescheduled tournaments in the coming weeks, which will also provide more clarity on the unfreezing of rankings once it is deemed safe to resume tournaments.


New Olympic and Paralympic Games Dates

As you know from yesterday’s announcement (linked here), the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games to 23 July to 8 August 2021.

BWF will now initiate a review process to confirm any impacts on the Olympic qualification system.

Please note that the consequences of freezing the World Rankings will not apply to the Olympic qualification system.

This review process is expected to take several weeks upon which BWF will make a further announcement once all circumstances have been carefully considered.

Please find attached the BWF Press Release which has more information.


FAQs – Frequently asked Questions and Answers

Please see list of FAQs on tournament participation and the Coronavirus / COVID-19 on the announcements page of the BWF website (linked here).