Badminton in 2023, with a revamped World Tour calendar, has embarked on a new journey. The new season, which has already started with tournaments in Malaysia, India and Thailand, brings more prize money opportunities for the players and coverage on television and online streaming, taking the sport to a new height.
The ongoing season accommodates an all-time high of 31 Super Series events, four more than last year’s 27, culminating with the World Tour Finals in December. This is apart from nine new Super 100 events, which serve as the qualifiers to the World Tour.
With HSBC, the multinational bank headquartered in Britain, renewing its contract with Badminton World Federation (BWF), the sport’s governing authority, for four more years as the premier sponsor since coming on board in 2018, badminton’s flagship Super 1000, 750 and 500 events and World Tour Finals will cover wider regions this year.
Of all Super Series events, the season finale, Tour Finals, where only the top 8 players from five disciplines are eligible to play, will offer the highest prize money at $2,000,000.
For the first time, America will have its second World Tour event, with BWF upgrading Canada Open to Super 500, giving it a Super Series status.
Similarly, The Arctic Open in Finland and Australian Open have been upgraded to the Super 500 category from the Super 300, giving badminton a boost in the regions.
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At the top of the spectrum, Malaysia Open has been upgraded to Super 1000, while the Super 500 events in India and Singapore have been elevated to Super 750.
Japan, coming fast as a top badminton-playing nation, will have two Super Series events - Japan Open Super 750 and Japan Masters Super 500 - in November.
Olympic qualification cycle, which will kick off at Sudirman Cup on May 14-21, will add a further edge to the already packed schedule.
