Was shocked to see the next year's BWF calendar, says Kidambi Srikanth

On Thursday, former world No 1 male shuttler Kidambi Srikanth pointed out his concern at the overloaded international badminton schedule in 2023, highlighting how it would make things difficult for badminton players in an Olympic qualification year. As per the BWF official website, there are 31 events scheduled in the World Tour calendar for 2023-24, with an increased number of Super 1000, Super 750, and Super 500 tournaments interspersed throughout the season. The race to the Paris Olympics qualification will begin on May 1, 2023, with the period of initial qualification determination being from 28 April 2024 to 30 April 2024.

Srikanth felt that the busy BWF calendar was “much better pre-covid.” “It was much better pre-covid, because we used to have 3 back-to-back tournaments, but once in a year. After two back-to-back tournaments, there was a gap of 2 weeks. But now, when I saw the calendar for the next year, I was really shocked to see some 6-7 tournaments (scheduled) back to back, and that too, twice.

So, that's tough and physically challenging. You’ve to pick and choose (which events to play in). Since it’s the year of Olympic qualification, you can’t really skip tournaments.

So, we are put in a situation where we can’t really skip tournaments, and we can’t play tournaments at 100%,” Srikanth said here on Thursday. So, how does he tackle this schedule and avoid a burnout? “See, you can’t skip the Asian Games (next year), you can’t skip the Super 1000 or Super 750 series events. So, it’s just about prioritizing which tournaments to play, maintaining your body and being physically fit to play.

That’s the only option,” he said. Srikanth explained his roadmap to the Olympics two years down the line. “It’s a long time