Exciting BWF season ahead!!!

The 2021 BWF calendar kicked off with the Sudirman Cup towards the end of September. The Badminton World Federation lined up a series of tournaments starting with the Thomas & Uber Cup followed by the BWF Super 1000 Denmark Open, the BWF Super 750 French Open, and Germany Open tournaments that are scheduled between 19th-24th October, 26th-31st October 2021, and 02nd-07th November.

From Europe, the events will move on to the Asian circuit with BWF Super 750 Indonesian Masters, BWF Super 1000 Indonesian Open, and World Tour Finals from 16th-21st November, 23rd-28th November, and 01st-05th December 2021.

Badminton players are never used to playing so many important tournaments without getting a few weeks' break in between, and the line-up of these back-to-back tournaments can trigger fitness-related issues for the top athletes.

Speaking to a leading news agency, the retired Malaysian legend, Lee Chong Wei, shared his views on the line of events.

Lee said, ”the busy schedule will have an impact on the contenders. The players with the best conditions will have the edge. The back-to-back tournaments and the amount of travel would pose a massive challenge, especially when it comes to recovery and staying injury-free”.

“It’s going to be exciting for sure, it will be a more open affair instead of the usual suspects. Axelsen has done well and was the most consistent throughout the pandemic. But I think Kento Momota, Shi Yuqi, Lee Zii Jia, Anders Antonsen, Anthony Ginting, Chou Tien-Chen will also be among the contenders in the coming tournaments and, ultimately, the World Championships” he added.

Kento Momota was seen missing from the scene when BWF announced tournaments post-pandemic break, and the danish star Viktor Axelsen took advantage of this and dominated the sports. Appeared in almost all the finals of the tournaments and even walked away with the gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics.

Like Darwin’s theory, this BWF season is also about the survival of the fittest.