The Badminton World Federation (BWF) on Wednesday said it might freeze the world rankings for a while as it works on a “fair solution” to the Olympic qualification process after the COVID-19 pandemic forced a postponement of Tokyo Games.
There have been growing calls to freeze the world rankings after cancellations and postponements wrecked the sport’s calendar. Indian shuttlers Saina Nehwal, B Sai Praneeth, Parupalli Kashyap and H S Prannoy have been leading the way in expressing concerns.
“For our athletes, we will review any impacts on the Olympic and Paralympic qualification system to ensure a fair solution is found to qualify players for the postponed Games,” the BWF said in a statement.
“BWF, in the short-term, is also looking into the possibility of freezing World Rankings until international tournaments start again.
“However, we are still working on the technical solution to ensure the freezing and eventual un-freezing of World Rankings works fairly for all players and we will announce this shortly.”
Shuttlers in the singles competition have to be inside top-16 of world rankings to qualify for the Olympics. In doubles, a country can field one pair if they are in the top 16 and two if both pairs are in the top eight.