BWF cancels five badminton tournaments amid coronavirus outbreak

The Badminton World Federation (BWF) on Friday announced the suspension of five major tournaments due to the coronavirus outbreak.

This also includes the suspension of the three Continental Confederation championships which is one of the last chances for athletes to gain qualification for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games before April 26 deadline.

The coronavirus outbreak has taken a huge toll on sports all around the globe and badminton also had to bear the brunt of the deadly virus.

The tournaments affected after this decision are 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).

"All five tournaments were slated to be played within the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games qualifying period, but will no longer contribute to Olympic qualifying as they will now fall outside the qualification window," said BWF in an official statement.

"BWF will make a further announcement on any implications related to the Olympic qualification period at a later date," the statement further read.

Earlier in the day, the Badminton Association of India (BAI) announced that it would be shutting down its office for the next few days as a precautionary measure against the coronavirus pandemic.

The World Health Organisation declared the COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic on March 11. More than 240,000 people have been infected by the coronavirus worldwide.