The Badminton World Championships scheduled for August 2021 will now take place from Nov. 29 to Dec. 5 the same year, the Badminton World Federation said on Friday.
The decision to postpone the tournament will give players the chance to focus on next year, as 2021 will be a condensed sports calendar, the world governing body of badminton said in a statement.
"The new schedule will allow players to have a clear focus for 2021 in which they will have dual objectives of both the Olympic Games and World Championships," it said.
The 2020 Tokyo Olympics, scheduled from July 24 to and August 9 have been postponed till next year over the COVID-19 outbreak, which has also seen other major sporting events scheduled for this year being affected.
BWF President Poul-Erik Hoyer Larsen said changing the BWF World Championships to late November was in the best interests of the sport.
"BWF and Spanish Badminton Federation are confident that the rescheduled championships will be a success. The move allows both the Olympic badminton competition and the World Championships to be conducted with equal fairness for everyone," Larsen said.
A further announcement will be made on the qualifying process for next year's Olympic Games, Paralympic Games and World Championships while the remainder of the 2021 BWF calendar is yet to be finalized, it said.
