PV Sindhu: Life is more important than anything else

The Indian shuttler spoke on the postponement of the Thomas and Uber Cup.

Olympic silver medallist PV Sindhu has appreciated the decision of Badminton World Federation (BWF) to postpone the Thomas and Uber Cup due to the coronavirus pandemic. The decision was announced on Tuesday.

BWF, in collaboration with Badminton Denmark, has 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.

PV Sindhu welcomed this decision and said that life is more important than anything else. PV Sindhu remarked, "Life is more important than anything else. And, with many big guns from Asia withdrawing because of the pandemic, this development was on the expected lines."

"I personally feel it is not the right time to play and take a huge risk on the health front."

The Badminton Association of India (BAI) also welcomed BWF's decision of postponement of the tournament. BAI's General Secretary Ajay Singhania said, "BAI has been supporting BWF in its efforts to restart international badminton. However, we stand by this decision taken by BWF considering the challenges in the ongoing time and the health and safety of all concerned."

BWF is looking into possible alternative dates to reschedule the world men’s and women’s team championships but not before into 2021. Meanwhile, the Denmark Open in Odense will proceed as originally planned in the BWF tournament calendar (13-18 October).

The event will also be used as an opportunity to implement relevant COVID-19 safety protocols and operating procedures for the planned restart of international badminton tournaments. The second tournament scheduled for Odense – the VICTOR Denmark Masters 2020 – slated for 20-25 October has been cancelled as it is no longer feasible to conduct this additional event.

In a statement, BWF had said, "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 Thomas and Uber Cup Finals on the dates 3-11 October 2020," it concluded.