Action-packed BWF schedule

HSBC BWF World Tour had raised curtains with the Princess Sirivannavari Thailand Masters 2018 as the season’s first event.

Followed by the Thailand Masters, which is a HSBC BWF World Tour Super 300 event offering US$150,000 prize money, being one of 11 such tournaments across the world. This will be followed by three HSBC BWF World Tour Super 500 tournaments in Malaysia, Indonesia and India.

Featuring six levels of tournaments, the BWF World Tour runs until 2021. The season finale in December, the HSBC BWF World Tour Finals, will have US$1.5 million prize purse for the winners. The HSBC BWF World Tour Super 1000 level boasts three million-dollar events to be held in China, England and Indonesia.

Five events have been classified as HSBC BWF World Tour Super 750 (with US$700,000 prize money); seven as Super 500 (US$350,000 in prize money); and 11 as Super 300 (US$150,000 in prize money).

February will be the action packed season for the Tour as most of the top players will have high time with their respective continental championships. Yonex Swiss Open (Super 300) is the sole Tour event in that month.

Continuing with the Yonex German Open (Super 600) from 6 to 11 March in Europe, Yonex All England (Super 1000) from 14-18 March, and the Orleans Masters (BWF Tour Super 100) in the end of the month. While Orleans being the one of the 11 events in the 6th level of the Tour. Points from from these events will be counted in the HSBC Race to Guangzhou, they are not part of the BWF-HSBC sponsorship deal and are therefore named slightly differently.

The tournaments will be moved to Asia with the China Super 100 event from 10 to 15 April, followed by two Super 300 events in Australia and New Zealand in early May.

The TOTAL BWF Thomas & Uber Cup Finals (Grade 1) will be held in Bangkok from 20 to 27 May. The Tour then moves to North America in June for the Yonex US Open (Super 300) from 12 to 17 June and Canada Open (Super 100) from 19 to 24 June before moving to Asia for a series of back-to-back tournaments in Malaysia (Super 750), Indonesia (Super 1000), Thailand (Super 500), Singapore (Super 500), Japan (Super 100), Russia (Super 100) and Vietnam (Super 100).

The TOTAL BWF World Championships – a Grade 1 tournament – will be held in Nanjing, China from 30 July to 5 August.

The only month, when the top players will get a chance to take break is August for the World Championships and the only Tour event that month is the Spanish Open (Super 300) from 28 August to 2 September.

September will be a busy month for players with four Tour events; Japan (Super 750), China (Super 1000), Indonesia (Super 100), and Korea (Super 500).

October will begin with the Chinese Taipei Open (Super 300), followed by the Dutch Open (Super 100); Denmark Open (Super 750); French Open (Super 750); Macau Open (Super 300) and Bitburger Masters (Super 100).

Five Tour events are scheduled for November – China Masters (Super 750); Hong Kong Open (Super 500); Scotland Open (Super 100); Syed Modi International (Super 300) and Korea Masters (Super 300).

The season closes with the US$1.5 million HSBC BWF World Tour Finals from 12- 16 December.