The 2021 Badminton World Championships have been moved from August to later in the year to avoid a clash with the rescheduled Olympic Games in Tokyo.

The tournament will now take place from 29 November to 5 December next year after the Badminton World Federation made the decision in collaboration with FESBA, the Spanish badminton federation, with the event still to be held in the city of Huelva.

Spain was granted hosting rights to the 2021 World Championships in November 2018.

The Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games were last month pushed back by a year due to the coronavirus pandemic and will be held across July, August and September, a move which prompted the BWF’s decision to shift its flagship competition. 

The BWF World Championships are staged annually but were not due to take place this year because of the Olympics.

The federation hopes the tournament can ”shine brightly” in a “condensed sports calendar” in 2021. 

President Poul-Erik Høyer said switching the dates of the BWF World Championships to late November was in the best interests of the sport.

He said: “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.”

Earlier this week, the BWF re-scheduled this year's Thomas and Uber Cup Finals, the biennial national teams tournament, to take place from 3 to 11 October. 

Sportcal