The 28th edition of the European Championships to be held in Kyiv, Ukraine. Phase three of finding eligible players has commenced.
The 2020 European Championships were ultimately cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the hosting rights of the 2021 edition reallocated to Ukraine again with the capital Kyiv due to be the focal point of European badminton 27 April to 2 May.
The player eligibility date for the 2021 European Championships was 23 February 2021, following which a list of eligible players has been compiled. This year is the first time with the new format, that the European Championships will see fewer entries in each of the five disciplines.
More focus and special attention
-We are naturally curious to see the entry lists and what kind of effect the changes have, says Jimmy Andersen, Deputy General Secretary of Badminton Europe.
An example demonstrating the change; in men’s singles, the lowest qualified entry is ranked as #59 on the European list, while in women’s singles the lowest qualified entry is ranked #63 in Europe. Had we still had the previous 48 entries, the lowest qualified entry would be #186 and #86 in the respective categories.
-The lower number of entries will enable us to focus on specific matches on the opening days, using a one-court setup with full focus on this and on the entertainment aspect of the game. We want to attract more focus and special attention around the local players and the best players in Europe – and having less entries is a sacrifice we chose to make in this connection, Jimmy Andersen explained.
It is a first in Kyiv, but Badminton Europe believes that this will hopefully be something which will prove successful and which can be used for the future – we want to make our events more entertaining – both for players and for the fans.
For all European nations, the phases to decide and announce whether the eligible players will compete in the 2021 European Championships has been set in motion.
Wild Cards
On Tuesday 16 March 2021 Badminton Europe will announce its Wild Card entries for the 2021 European Championships.
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