I just heared that the Singapore open and Malaysia open are cancelled because of SARS.. Indonesia is yet to decide....
today's Star online The Star Online > Sports Wednesday, May 21, 2003 Three nations agree to put off tourneys PETALING JAYA: As expected, the organisers of three Opens on the South-East Asian leg of the international badminton circuit have unanimously agreed to postpone their championships because of the SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) threat. The Singapore Open is the first of the three back-to-back tournaments and it was scheduled for June 16-22. The other two are the Indonesian Open (June 23-29) and Malaysian Open (July 1-6). The Singapore Badminton Association (SBA) secretary general, Steven Yeo, said in a press statement yesterday that they decided to postpone their US$170,000 tournament after discussions with the International Badminton Federation (IBF), the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) and the All-Indonesian Badminton Association (PBSI). “We felt that delaying the announcement may cause inconvenience to participating players, our sponsors and our volunteers. Hence, we made the difficult decision to voluntarily postpone the tournament,” he said. “After discussing with our Indonesian and Malaysian counterparts, we have put forth new dates for the tournament o the IBF.” But Steven did not disclose the proposed dates to stage the tournament. “We hope that the new dates will be app roved so that more federations and players can participate in the Singapore Open and the other back-to-back events,” he said. The Singapore Open is the second tournament on the IBF calendar to be postponed because of SARS. The first was the World Championships, which was scheduled for May 12-18 in Birmingham. Following the Singapore BA’s decision yesterday, the BAM have also confirmed the postponement of their Open. The BAM's general manager and secretary, P. Ganga Rao, said: “We hope to stage the tournament on new dates that will make it back-to-back with the Singapore Open and Indonesian Open.” The IBF also confirmed yesterday that the PBSI would also suggest new dates for their Open.
Does this make any sense?? Hmm, ban the events but people are still thinking of meeting up and travelling. IBF are thinking one way and Associations are thinking otherwise!! "The Star Online > Sports Friday, May 23, 2003 East Asian challenge to keep our shuttlers on their toes BY RAJES PAUL PETALING JAYA: The national badminton squad are likely to play a series of Test matches with the South Korean national team to stay in competitive mood. Yesterday, the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) announced that they were looking at various options for the national players who have no immediate international commitments to look forward to. And the Korean Test is the priority. The team have no meets ahead following the postponement of the World Championships in Birmingham (May 12-18), the Singapore Open (June 16-22), the Indonesian Open (June 23-29) and the Malaysian Open (July 1-6). The International Badminton Federation (IBF) have yet to re-schedule these tournaments although the England BA have proposed Aug 4-11 for the world meet. Besides the Korean stint, the BAM are also considering national doubles chief coach Yap Kim Hock's proposal for friendly matches with national doubles players in Denmark and England. BAM president Datuk Nadzmi Mohd Salleh said that, with the players going through a dry period, they may even choose to hold an unscheduled Kuala Lumpur Open soon. Another plan is the Elite Challenge, which has been re-scheduled to June 3-13 at the Stadium Juara in Bukit Kiara. “We are currently looking at three options after discussion with the singles and doubles chief coaches (Misbun Sidek and Kim Hock),” said Nadzmi. “Our priority is the Korean stint. Our plan is to bring them here. But we may send our players over there if the Koreans prefer it that way. The same goes for the friendly matches in Europe. If we cannot work out a plan to go there, we will try to bring the Europeans here,” said Nadzmi. “If both plans do not work out, we may host the KL Open as a last resort.” The KL Open is not one of the legs in this year's National Grand Prix Circuit. The scheduled local Opens are Selangor, Pahang and Kedah. Nadzmi said the stint with the Koreans would benefit both the men and women players. “The Koreans are a formidable team and we want to bring the best Korean players here. They have good men's singles, doubles and women players. Besides the Test matches, we will also propose a joint training session with our national players,” he added. The Korean men’s singles players include 2002 Japan Open champion Lee Hyun-il, Park Tae-sang and Shon Seung-mo. Their top men’s doubles players are world number one pair Kim Dong-moon-Ha Tae-kwon and Lee Dong-soo-Yoo Yong-sung. The women players include seasoned campaigner like Ra Kyung-min and Lee Kyung-won.
