Badminton Europe is happy to announce that the 2020 European Junior Championships in Lahti, Finland will go on as planned.

Today it has been confirmed that one of the biggest and most exciting tournaments on the European calendar, the 2020 European Junior Championships, will take place from 29 October – 7 November.

Earlier this week Badminton Europe informed the participating teams that a Covid-19 travel protocol has been negotiated in cooperation with the Finnish Border Guard for the 2020 European Junior Championships, meaning that all teams will be able to enter Finland without a 14-days quarantine period.

As part of the agreement all teams must arrive in Finland on Sunday 25 October 2020, and all participants must show a negative Covid-19 test, if they arrive from countries not on Finland’s green list. Furthermore, everybody will be tested onsite three days after their arrival before the tournament starts.

An important tournament
Based on the numbers of teams confirming their participation in the championships, Badminton Europe has decided to move on with the event.
 
- This tournament is important – not only for Badminton Europe and Badminton Finland, but also for the players participating, Badminton Europe President, Peter Tarcala said.

- For many of the players this is the last major tournament as a youth player, before they take the next step in their career. I am pleased that they get to experience one last European Championships despite of the difficult situation around Europe.

At Badminton Finland they are looking forward to welcoming the future stars of European badminton.

- We are glad about the final confirmation that the EJC will go ahead so this age group also gets to compete at the European Junior Championships. We welcome all teams to Pajulahti and look forward to a great and safe tournament, General Secretary Ville Valorinta said.

Strong support from the Members
Deputy General Secretary at Badminton Europe, Jimmy Andersen, has been in close contact with Badminton Finland since the championships was allocated to the Finnish federation.

- It pleases me to see that a vast majority of the entering associations have confirmed their entry to us after having received the Covid-19 protocol for the event. It shows that they trust us and Badminton Finland in our endeavors to have this event played and that they really want to give their players the opportunity for playing this, for them, important event. I am very pleased to see the event going ahead, and I can only express my deep gratitude to our Members for their support – and in particular to Badminton Finland for their hard and dedicated work, Andersen stated.

- Teams, who entered in the first place but subsequently informed us about their withdrawal after receiving the Covid-19 protocol, will be given the chance to re-enter. Some Members were maybe hoping to see a postponement of the event, and if that was the case, then they shall be allowed to take part, now that the event is confirmed – for the sake of their young players, he added. 

The 2020 European Junior Team Championships will take place 29 October – 2 November followed by the individual event from 2-7 November 2020.

Information on Covid-19 around Lahti

In the Päijät-Häme region (where the Pajulahti Sports Center is based) only 35 Covid-19 infections have been diagnosed in the last two weeks. Since the start of the epidemic (March 2020) a total of 240 positive infections were registered in the region (population of 200.000).