BWF announces hosts for 2023-2026 calendar; India Open upgraded to Super 750

The Badminton World Federation (BWF) has announced the host countries for its BWF World Tour tournaments for the 2023-2026 badminton calendar and features four new additional stops, as well.

The 31-event new World Tour calendar, which includes the year-ending BWF World Tour Finals, will see more prize money opportunities for players with the number of tournaments being bumped across Super 1000, Super 750, and Super 500 tournaments in the calendar.

For India, the new BWF calendar has brought happy tidings. Aside from the BWF approving of International Challenger tournaments to take place in Nagpur and Raipur for starters in September this year, the BWF has also upgraded the Super 500 India Open to a Super 750 event, making it a more important tournament with better prize money on offer now.

During the India Open this year, which was held during the omicron outbreak in New Delhi, Lakshya Sen went on to win the crown defeating reigning World Champion Loh Kean Yew in the finals.

The announcement of hosts caps an exciting bid process which saw healthy interest from all host bidders.

"Badminton is one of the fastest-growing sports in the world with all-time high participation and fan numbers. More tournaments give us a fantastic opportunity to enhance the sport's reach around the world, not only in established territories, but into new ones as well. It also allows for more players to enter our elite circuit and gain valuable experience," BWF Secretary General Thomas Lund said.

"We were very encouraged by the large number of high-quality bids we received and that bodes well for a bigger and better tour across the next four years. It enables us to commit to higher prize money, greater coverage on television and online, and spectacular presentation, all contributing to an enhanced world-class sports product that we seek."

Highlights of the BWF World Tour 2023-2026 badminton calendar:

In the key events, the Malaysia Open joins the All England Open, China Open, and Indonesia Open as the tour's highest-level Super 1000 tournaments. Meanwhile, the India Open and Singapore Open have been bumped to Super 750 status. Existing Super 750 hosts from China, Denmark, France, and Japan have maintained their status.

The Super 500 level will see host cities from three new continents with tournaments in Australia, Canada, and Finland, joining tournaments in Hong Kong China, Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, Thailand, and an additional new host in Japan. Lastly, two existing Super 100 tournaments have been elevated to the BWF World Tour Super 300 level: HYLO Open and Orléans Masters.