Kuala Lumpur [Malaysia], Mar 31 : The Badminton World Federation (BWF) on Tuesday announced that it will freeze World Rankings and World Junior Rankings until further notice. Earlier on March 20, the apex body had suspended five major tournaments due to the coronavirus outbreak.
The tournaments affected after this decision were VICTOR Croatian International 2020 (16-19 April), Peru International 2020 (16-19 April), 2020 European Championships (21-26 April), Badminton Asia Championships 2020 (21-26 April) and XXIV Pan Am Individual Championships 2020 (23-26 April).
"The freezing of rankings will be backdated to Week 12, which is the week following the last international tournament that was played - the All England Open 2020," the BWF said in an official statement.
"The ranking lists issued on 17 March 2020 will serve as a basis for entry and seeding into the next international tournaments - although it is difficult to say at this stage when this may be," the statement further read.
Following the announcement to reschedule the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games to 23 July to 8 August 2021, the BWF said that it will also initiate a review process to confirm any impacts on the Olympic qualification system.
( With inputs from ANI )