[Source: Badminton Denmark] Denmark is going to host three big badminton events when the international Championships and World Tour-tournaments restart after Covid-19. Besides the fact that Denmark is going to host the world championships for men’s and women’s national teams, TOTAL BWF Thomas & Uber Cup, and DANISA DENMARK OPEN presented by VICTOR, Badminton Denmark has also been given the task to host another major badminton event.

Since March where the All England was played, in which Viktor Axelsen came out victorious in the men’s singles category, the international top badminton calendar has been cleared due to the Covid-19 situation. But from October 3 to October 25, there will once again be badminton tournaments and championships to look forward to. But in a whole new way and on Danish soil.

The TOTAL BWF Thomas & Uber Cup will be held as scheduled from October 3 to October 11 in Aarhus, Denmark. The world championships will then be followed up by the World Tour Super 750-tournament DANISA DENMARK OPEN presented by VICTOR in Odense, Denmark, which will take place from the October 13-18. In the following week from October 20-25, the city of Odense will be hosting another big international tournament as the Super 750-tournament French Open will be moved to Denmark and hosted as Denmark Open II.

This is due to the fact that by Denmark holding all three events, the players and their teams don’t have to cross more borders than most necessary, but also because The Badminton World Federation, BWF, considers Denmark to be able to hold all three events safely.

“We are very pleased about the fact that Denmark is going to be the place where international top badminton restarts after the Covid-19,” Bo Jensen, Director of Badminton Denmark says.

“It is history. It is huge that we are going to host both the Thomas & Uber Cup in Aarhus and two times Denmark Open in Odense. We have been working for a long time to create guidelines and recommendations together with authorities, BWF, and our partners so that we could be able to hold these three big events healthily and responsibly. We are doing everything we can to minimize the risk of infection for the players, audience, judges, volunteers, and others involved.”

Some of those initiatives that will help minimize the risk of infection will be by making different colour zones so that different groups will be separated the most. Badminton Denmark will also make area divisions for the audience, unidirectional walkways, place sanitizer everywhere as well as making temperature scanning’s before entering the hall

Furthermore, will everyone in the green colour zone (players, judges, official, tournament management, etc.) be Covid-19 tested continuously throughout the three weeks. Badminton Denmark collaborates with KMD for the purpose and has also bought test kits and two machines for test development, which will make us able to test key actors and get the result within 20 minutes.

In addition to this, general recommendations from the authorities and guidelines will be complied with. All audience will before these events receive practical information about this. For example, concerning toilet facilities, purchase of food, traffic information, and recommendations concerning mouthpieces and the stop-infection-app.

“We have been given a unique and historical opportunity to become the first European country to host the Thomas & Uber Cup and to hold two World Tour tournaments in a row,” says Jensen. “It will take a huge effort from my staff to lift this task. It is a task that we are very humble towards and we wish to do our absolute best to solve it at the highest level as possible so that our audience can feel safe at these events. Therefore, we introduce several initiatives, which will help all of us to enjoy world-class badminton.”

BWF’s Secretary General, Thomas Lund, is pleased about the fact that months of work soon will bear fruit at respectively Ceres Park & Arena, Aarhus, and Odense Idrætshal, Odense.

“Managing travel logistics between different territories where different entry and safety restrictions apply has been the biggest challenge. Therefore, an adjusted tournament calendar was developed. We look forward to the return of international badminton and we thank all parties and participants involved in the planning process,” he says.

Exactly how many spectators which will be able to watch the TOTAL BWF Thomas & Uber Cup and DANISA DENMARK OPEN presented by VICTOR-tournaments depends on the political negotiations, which are going on these days. Badminton Denmark will send out more information this when the political parties have a conclusion.