THE Malaysia Open on Nov 24-29 may not see the light of day if the government does not ease the restrictions for the hosting of tournaments.
Yesterday, the government gave the nod to organisers to hold only local tournaments for non-contact sports, such as badminton, beginning July 15.
However, tournaments, which must be held behind closed doors, are only allowed to host individual events.
Foreign shuttlers, for now, are barred from all tournaments in the country.
The Malaysia Open, a flagship BA of Malaysia (BAM) event , is one of the oldest badminton events on the international calendar.
Five events (men and women's singles and doubles, and mixed doubles) are contested in Open tournaments.
BAM secretary-general Datuk Kenny Goh, although concerned, said restrictions may ease along the way as the Malaysia Open is four months away.
"The Malaysia Open will only be held in November, so it is too early to speculate on the fate of the event.
"The Recovery Movement Control Order (RMCO) ends on Aug 31, so we will wait and see what happens after that.
"None of our tournaments are affected by the current regulations as we have postponed them to the end of the year.
"Our biggest concerned is the possible spike in expenses to host the Malaysia Open, which will likely increase to meet Covid-19 guidelines.
"We are still waiting whether the Badminton World Federation (BWF) will offer assistance."
BAM president Datuk Seri Norza Zakaria hinted recently that the Malaysia Open could be cancelled if the BWF do not offer financial assistance.
This year's Malaysia Open will not offer Olympic qualifying points. The qualifying process will restart early next year.
The BAM are also planning to organise an in-house tournament for their players, but the competition will now be reduced to only the men and women's singles events.
