New Delhi, Jul 13 (UNI): India will host the World Badminton Championships in 2026, the sport’s global governing body, Badminton World Federation (BWF) confirmed on Tuesday.
The coronavirus pandemic, which brought sporting activities to a halt in 2020, has forced the BWF to rejig its international tournament calendar. India were scheduled to organise the Sudirman Cup in 2023 but the BWF decided to award the hosting rights of the World Mixed Team championships to Suzhou, China.
The BWF was forced to shift this 2021 Sudirman Cup from Suzhou, China to Vantaa, Finland due to the COVID-19 situation in the Asian country.
‘Suzhou will now stage the 2023 edition of the BWF World Mixed Team Championships, with original 2023 hosts India accepting the opportunity to host the BWF World Championships in 2026,’ the BWF said in a statement.
India has so far won 10 World Championship medals with reigning champion P V Sindhu leading the chart with a gold, two silver, and two bronze medals while Prakash Padukone won India’s first medal at the World Championships in 1983.
In 2019, Olympic-bound B Sai Praneeth had ended a 36-year-long wait for a men’s singles world championships medal at Basel, Switzerland.
Apart from that, 2012 Olympic medallist, Saina Nehwal had won the silver and bronze in 2015 and 2017 editions respectively, while the women’s doubles combination of Ashwini Ponnappa and Jwala Gutta had bagged a bronze medal in 2011 at London.
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