New Delhi: All England Championship will kickstart the World Super Series circuit in March next year as the Badminton World Federation (BWF) has decided to give a two-month break to the elite international shuttlers at the beginning of the new season.
Maintaining its usual slot in the BWF calendar, the All England Championship will be held from March 3-8, with the Korea Open Super Series and Malaysia Open Super Series Premier, that were previously staged in January, taking place later.
BWF Secretary General Thomas Lund said players had been asking for a break to rest and that following the BWF Destination Dubai World Super Series Finals in December, this will be factored into the BWF's tournament schedule.
"We have reorganised the calendar slightly from 2015 so that we are done with the finals in Dubai this year. The series will not start in March before the All-England. So January and February you will see GP Gold tournaments and other tournaments so we will have real break," Lund said.
"This has been done to create a possible Super Series break," he told reporters at the Yonex-Sunrise Metlife India Open here.
Asked if there could be a window for Indian Badminton League, Lund said BWF don't sanction national leagues as of now but the break could be a window for national league.
"At this time, no in the sense that we do not sanction the national leagues as such. Having said that this break could also be a window where there could be a national league being played.
"We have tried over the years what we call seasonal breaks which could be used to have one at the beginning of the year and one in the middle of the year. We have a big break in the international calendar for us but you have the Commonwealth Games and the Asian Games so it is not really a break for everybody but it is a break in our calendar," Lund said.
While the 2015 tournament schedule is still being finalised, other World Super Series events whose dates have been confirmed are the Australian Open which has shifted to late May; the Hong Kong Open in mid-November and the year-ending World Super Series Finals in mid-December.
Dubai will host the top-eight finishers in all categories of the World Super Series in the BWF Destination Dubai World Super Series Finals from 2014 to 2017.
India would be hosting the Thomas and Uber Cup finals for the first time next month at the Siri Fort stadium and Lund said it will be a different feeling and experience.
"The Thomas and Uber Cup will be a big event. It will obviously be a different event with a different feel. It's a team thing, national thing. There will be a different expression, different field. We are working on closely with Badminton Association of India to create a very high level experience for the spectators. We are trying to grow.
"Hopefully we can do even better at the Thomas and Uber Cup," Lund said.
Talking about the Indian Badminton League, Lund said: "Its great. I followed it from Malaysia. Its nice. Good spectator attendance. It is nicely presented. You witnessed new young players coming up, who got a chance to familiarise themselves with the media, microphones. These things are very good for our sport. It brought some energy into Indian badminton which national leagues are all about."
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