Badminton schedule 2023: Asian Games headline packed calendar; Olympic ranking points on offer
The 2023 badminton season begins with the Malaysia Masters in January and ends with the BWF World Tour Finals in December.
Badminton
The 2023 badminton calendar will be a crucial one for Indian shuttlers.
India had a memorable campaign in 2022 with a rich medal haul at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham and a Thomas Cup title, the first-ever for India.
Indian badminton players PV Sindhu, Lakshya Sen, Kidambi Srikanth, HS Prannoy and Chirag Shetty-Satwiksairaj Rankireddy will be eager to carry the momentum in 2023.
With the Paris 2024 Olympic Games on the horizon, consistent performances in 2023 may prove crucial for the Indian players’ chances of making it to the next quadrennial showpiece.
The Race to Paris Olympic Qualification period for badminton begins on May 1, 2023, and runs till April 28, 2024, which means that ranking points earned during the period will determine who qualifies for the Summer Games.
Barring the BWF World Tour 2023 events, the world championships and the season-ending World Tour Finals, Indian badminton players will also be competing in the Sudirman Cup and various Asian tournaments and most importantly, at the Asian Games in Hangzhou, China.
The Asian Games were originally scheduled for 2022 but was postponed a year due to COVID-19. The quadrennial event will be held from September 23 to October 8.
The 2023 badminton schedule kickstarts with the Malaysia Masters Super 1000 tournament from January 10-15 before moving to New Delhi for the India Open, which has been upgraded to Super 750 status from its previous Super 500 category.
The All England Open is scheduled for March 14-19 while the badminton world championships will be held in Copenhagen, Denmark, from August 20-27.
Three back-to-back tournaments - the Syed Modi International Super 300 tournament in Lucknow and two other India Super 100 tournaments – will be played in India late in the season. Then the customary BWF World Tour Finals, from December 11-15, will wrap up the 2023 badminton season.
The number of BWF tournaments has gone up in 2023 compared to 2022. In 2022, there were a total of 31 events, including the World Tour Finals and Super 100 events, whereas the number has gone up to 40 for 2023. Australia, Canada and Finland are some of the new hosts on the BWF World Tour.