Badminton masters championships canceled

As expected, the 2020 Canadian masters badminton championships set for next month in Prince George have been canceled.

Badminton Canada made that official on Friday, adding the tournament to its list of four national- or international events either canceled of postponed due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

The good news for Prince George is it will be the host city of the 2021 masters nationals following an agreement to swap places with Calgary. The Alberta city will give up its right to host next year and instead host the championships in 2022.

"All is not lost, in fact I'm using it as an opportunity in case there's anything we may have missed or wished we could have done, we can do that," said Lisa Davison, co-chair of the Prince George host committee.

"Everybody has been so supportive and even on the (North Central Badminton Academy) Facebook page everybody is like,'I'm so glad you get to host it next year because everybody's worked so hard.'

"It's all positive to me, in one way, and financially I don't think we're going to be on the hook for many things that will put us behind in our budget."

The 2020 tournament was originally booked for the Charles Jago Northern Sport Centre, April 27-May 2, with 250 athletes expected. Davison said expects most of the upfront costs of hosting the event will be refunded and she's hopeful sponsorships will be retained to help organizers stage the tournament next year.

"Some of those discussions just started yesterday and I haven't heard back from everyone, because people are on various work schedules right now" said Davison.

Dates of the 2021 tournament have yet to be finalized but Davison said it will be played in either March or April.

She said the organizing committee has lined up about 50 volunteers, half of the number needed, but was expecting an influx of last-minute volunteers who had already committed to the World Women's Curling Championships.

Davison said her committee was prepared to stage the 2021 or 2022 Canadian masters events and was thankful the Calgary organizers were able to work around a planned renovation to the Calgary Winter Club to allow Prince George to take its turn next year.

Badminton Canada also canceled the 2020 under-23 and junior national championships and under-11, under-13 junior national development team qualifier in Moncton, N.B. The 2020 postponements include the Canadian International Challenge in Fort McMurray and the Para-International championships in Ottawa.

Davison played last weekend in the B.C. masters championships in Vancouver and teamed up with Carole Ireland of Victoria to win the silver medal in the women's 50-plus doubles event. Davison and Ireland were the defending provincial champions and had planned on playing in the women's doubles event at nationals in Prince George.