Malaysia Open postponed due to surge in COVID-19 cases

New Delhi [India], May 7 (ANI): The Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) and Badminton World Federation (BWF) have jointly agreed to postpone the Malaysia Open 2021, scheduled for May 25-30.

As per a release on the BWF website, all attempts were made by the organisers and BWF to provide a safe tournament environment for all participants, but the recent surge in cases left no choice but to postpone the tournament.

The Malaysia Open 2021 is a Super 750 event on the BWF World Tour and was originally scheduled as an Olympic qualifying tournament. BWF can confirm the rescheduled tournament will no longer take place in the Olympic qualifying window. New tournament dates will be confirmed at a later date.

Earlier on Thursday, the Indian Sports Ministry, through the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), had approached the Malaysian government requesting for permission for the Indian badminton team to travel to participate in the Malaysian Open.

This was in light of a temporary travel ban that has been imposed by Malaysia on travellers from India, owing to the rising COVID-19 cases in India.

"After the initial request made earlier this week, the Indian High Commission in Malaysia has received information from the Malaysian Government that the travel of the team may not be possible immediately. However, with 19 days left for the competition to begin, the possibility of travel cannot be ruled out completely," an update statement from Sports Authority of India (SAI) had said. (ANI)