China's Zheng Siwei/Huang Yaqiong match during the BWF World Tour Finals 2019 in Guangzhou, Dec 15, 2019. (PHOTO / XINHUA)

KUALA LUMPUR - The Badminton World Federation (BWF) on Wednesday released updated qualifying regulations for the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games, adding the beginning of 2021 as extra Olympic qualification period.

According to the regulations, all ranking points earned at tournaments completed during the original Olympic qualification period, which falls on April 26 this year, will be maintained under the Race to Tokyo ranking list.

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An extended Olympic qualification period will be introduced from week 1-17 in 2021 and includes the select number of tournaments that were postponed, canceled or suspended due to COVID-19, said BWF

An extended Olympic qualification period will be introduced from week 1-17 in 2021 and includes the select number of tournaments that were postponed, canceled or suspended due to COVID-19, said BWF, adding that a revised BWF Tournament Calendar 2021 with the actual dates for these eligible tournaments will be revealed later.

For players representing China and China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), they will be eligible to earn points from the 2021 Badminton Asia Team Championships as both teams were unable to participate in the 2020 edition of the team tournament due to COVID-19 travel restriction imposed by the government of the Philippines, where the event took place.

For the Paralympic Games, all ranking points earned at tournaments completed during the original Paralympic qualification period will be maintained. A new date will be set for the Spanish Para Badminton International, the only tournament canceled within the original Paralympic qualification period.

BWF said the priority of the new updated plan was to ensure a fair solution to the disrupted qualification system in order to qualify players for the postponed Games. Both the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and International Paralympic Committee (IPC) have approved the amendments, it said.

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"Although we aim to resume international tournaments towards the end of 2020, we have chosen to resume the Olympic and Paralympic qualification process only in 2021 to ensure that travel restrictions and other related impacts of COVID-19 are limited," said BWF Secretary General Thomas Lund.

Last week, BWF unveiled a revamped tournament calendar for the remainder of 2020 following disruptions caused by COVID-19, eyeing to restart the international tournaments in August.