BWF: Looking at possibility to freeze rankings, will review Olympic qualification

There have been growing calls for freezing the world rankings with Indian shuttlers Saina Nehwal, Sai Praneeth and Parupalli Kashyap expressing their concern.

Shuttlers in the singles competition have to be inside top-16 of world rankings to qualify for the Olympics. The cut-off for doubles is also top-16. (Representative Image)

The Badminton World Federation (BWF) on Wednesday said it might freeze the world rankings for a while as it works on a “fair solution” to the Olympic qualification process after the COVID-19 pandemic forced a postponement of the Tokyo Games.

There have been growing calls for freezing the world rankings with Indian shuttlers Saina Nehwal, B. Sai Praneeth, Parupalli Kashyap and H S Prannoy expressing their concerns.

“For our athletes, we will review any impacts on the Olympic and Paralympic qualification system to ensure a fair solution is found to qualify players for the postponed Games,” BWF said in a statement.

“BWF, in the short-term, is also looking into the possibility of freezing World Rankings until international tournaments start again.

“However, we are still working on the technical solution to ensure the freezing and eventual un-freezing of World Rankings works fairly for all players and we will announce this shortly.”

Shuttlers in the singles competition have to be inside top-16 of world rankings to qualify for the Olympics. The cut-off for doubles is also top-16.

The international badminton calendar has been on hold since the All England Championships earlier this month.