Following the withdrawal of several national teams, the Badminton World Federation (BWF) decided to postpone the 2020 Thomas and Uber Cup.

Initially scheduled to take place in Aarhus, Denmark, next month, the tournament suffered a major setback after Indonesia, South Korea, Australia, Chinese Taipei and Thailand opted not to participate due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

China and Japan had also been expected to pull out too before the BWF's latest announcement.

"BWF, in collaboration with Badminton Denmark, have for many months been preparing for a safe return to international badminton. This includes going to extreme lengths to preserve the health and safety of all participants such as implementing a bubble system to create a safe badminton ecosystem.

"However, in view of the recent COVID-19 related developments around the world, a number of teams and individual players have elected not to travel to Denmark for tournaments in Aarhus and Odense; a choice the BWF has to respect and acknowledge.

"These are exceptional circumstances we find ourselves in and while a return to international badminton remains a priority for the BWF, the health and safety of the entire badminton community is of utmost importance.

"Therefore, after lengthy discussions with key stakeholders, commercial partners and participating Member Associations, it has been realised that we are not in a position to deliver the level of competition reasonably expected by fans and all stakeholders, and as a result have decided that we will not stage this year’s tournament," read an official statement released by the world badminton body on Tuesday.

However, the new dates for the tournament were not announced yet.

The BWF also confirmed the Denmark Open in Odense would proceed as originally planned from October 13th to 18th, while the subsequent Denmark Masters would not be held.



Responding to the latest development, Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) secretary-general Kenny Goh said the national body accepted the decision.

"This [tournament status] is out of our control, so we respect the BWF's decision and will abide by it. We will continue our training and preparing for other forthcoming tournaments.

"We are not sending any players for Denmark Open because it doesn't make sense to go for just one event," he told Stadium Astro, adding the President's Cup internal tournament would go ahead as planned this week.