BA of Malaysia (BAM) coaching director Wong Choong Hann said emphasis will still be given to this year's World Tour tournaments although they are not part of the Olympic qualifiers for the Tokyo Games.
The Badminton World Federation (BWF) announced on Wednesday that the World Tour will resume with the Taipei Open on Sept 1-6.
Under the revised world calendar due to the coronavirus pandemic, more than 20 tournaments will be cramped into the last three months of the year. These also include the Thomas and Uber Cup Finals in Aarhus, Denmark on Oct 3-11.
However, none of these events is part of the Olympic qualifying period which resumes in January next year from week one to week 17.
However, Choong Hann believes that this year's events are still crucial despite not offering Olympic tickets.
"Although the Olympic qualifying period will only start in January, this year's tournaments are very important. Our players need to do well in these events in order to improve their world rankings and make the cut for the main events next year," said Choong Hann yesterday.
"The Road to Tokyo rankings until the All England in March will not be affected but we cannot totally ignore the current tournaments.
"As only the points for the postponed or cancelled events from this year's Olympic qualification will still be counted, players need to improve their world rankings to play in the main events.
"The Malaysia Open and Asian Championships were postponed this year but these two tournaments will still offer Olympic qualification points. And our players need to compete in sufficient tournaments this year so that they can qualify for the main draw.
"Since the decision was only announced by BWF yesterday, we haven't come up with the complete periodisation plan yet.
"We will have a balanced training and competition schedule for the players so that they are well prepared for the Olympic qualification period.
"I believe it is a fair decision as it involves all the players competing in the World Tour."
BWF called off or postponed their tournaments after the All England in March due to the Covid-19 outbreak.
The delay in resuming the Olympic qualification period could be good news for some players, particularly two-time Olympic champion Lin Dan who has been struggling in his bid to qualify for his fifth consecutive Games.
