The Badminton World Federation (BWF) indicated they would not impose on shuttlers to play a whopping 22 events in five months after the world body released their revamped calendar that was ridiculed by many.
The new calendar, which included the rescheduling of top-tier events, would mean top players having to feature in four to six tournaments every month to make up for lost time due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Many shuttlers including Saina Nehwal, B. Sai Praneeth, Shirag Chetty, Lee Zii Jia and Liew Daren condemned the world body for their hasty actions, especially with restrictions on global travel still in place.
BWF secretary general Thomas Lund explained the reasoning behind the revamped calendar: "It is not expected each player will play or should play all tournaments.
"The revamped calendar simply provides an opportunity for players at all levels to resume competitive play and continue their professional lives once we are able to start.
"Some will play in more tournaments because they may not reach the final rounds, others will select not to play week after week as they play more matches in each tournament.
"There are ongoing considerations around the mandatory players’ regulations and we understand it is not fair to expect athletes to play in every tournament.
"An announcement will be made once the regulations are agreed," Lund told Times of India.
Current BWF regulations require top shuttlers to commit to 12 top events in the season, and failure to do so would result in a fine.
But there is already a conflict of interest on some tournaments that are scheduled on the same dates, notably the India International and Indonesia Open (November 17th-22nd), and the Korea Masters and Malaysia Open (November 24th-29th).
Even though the India International and Korea Masters are Super 300 events, the Indian and Korean shuttlers are inclined to play at their home tournaments, facing the prospect of missing out on the top ranked Indonesia and Malaysia Open.
Lund also said an announcement on the changes to the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympic qualification would likely be made this week.
