MUMBAI (Reuters) - The Badminton World Federation said on Friday it is not making any adjustments to the Olympic qualification period despite a host of events being impacted by the coronavirus in the leadup to the Tokyo Games, which start in July.
The flu-like disease has infected 80,000 people and killed almost 2,800 in China, while it has jumped to about 50 countries and territories beyond mainland China.
"Any change to the existing Olympic qualification rules will affect different players both positively or negatively, and with the present level of postponement and cancellation, BWF does not believe that making changes is appropriate. A badminton Olympic qualifier scheduled for Vietnam from March 24-29 was postponed to June on Tuesday due to"strict health protection restrictions in place in Vietnam".
The 2020 German Open, which was to be held in Muelheim an der Ruhr from March 3-8 and was an Olympic qualifier, was cancelled while the 2020 Polish Open, another Olympic qualifier scheduled to be held in Krakow from March 26 to 29 was postponed and fell outside the Olympic qualification period.
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