India Open Super 500 tournament to be played behind closed doors in New Delhi


India Open Super 500 tournament to be played behind closed doors in New Delhi

India Open Super 500

The much-awaited India Open Super 500 tournament is all set to be played in New Delhi in the month of May (from May 11 to May 16). The tournament which will also be a Olympic qualification event will however, not have fans and will be held behind closed doors due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Badminton Association of India (BAI) confirmed the same in a statement released yesterday.

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The statement about the tournament being held behind closed doors read, “As much as we love having you at the stadium, in unprecedented time like this in order to maintain the safety of the participating athletes & officials, we will be playing behind closed doors.” Despite the same, there would be no shortage of entertainment as some of the best in the world including Carolina Marin and Kento Momota will take part.

228 shuttlers from 33 nations to take part in the tournament

Carolina Marin Thailand Open
Carolina Marin

As many as 114 men and 114 women have registered for the tournament from 33 different nations. Out of the 228, 48 are Indians (27 women and 21 men) while there are as many as 26 from Malaysia and 10 from China. They would all have to arrive in India by May 6 and undergo a quarantine period of 4 days.

“All the players and officials coming from South Africa, Brazil, Middle East and European countries including UK will be serving a 7-day quarantine period and have to report in the capital city on May 3. Players and officials from rest of the world can arrive on May 6 and undergo a 4-day quarantine period,” the BAI said in a release.

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The tournament will be a USD 400,000 one and is one of the last qualification events for the Tokyo Olympic Games in July.

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