What Are The Different Categories of Events In A Badminton Season?

A look at the different categories of events in the BWF World Tour and how the prize money is distributed.

A look at the different levels of events in the BWF World Tour and how the prize money is distributed.

(Photo: AP)

From the years 2016 and 2017 when Indians were a force on the badminton circuit and either PV Sindhu or Kidambi Srikanth was winning tournaments on a regular basis, to now, when Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty’s men’s doubles win at the Thailand Open has us all celebrating – there’s a lot that’s changed on the BWF circuit than just India’s ability to finish on the podium.

While Sindhu’s big wins came in the India Open Superseries and the Korea Open Superseries, Srikanth achieved a rare feat of becoming the first Indian to win 4 Superseries titles in one single season. However, at the start of the 2018 season, the ‘Superseries’ suffix disappeared from the BWF calendar as the sport introduced the ‘HSBC BWF World Tour’.

So, how have things changed in badminton? How are tournaments categorised? Here are some answers.

What is the BWF World Tour?

For ten years – from 2007 to 2017 – the badminton season consisted mostly of two types of events, the BWF Superseries and the BWF Grand Prix.

In March 2017 the sport’s governing body voted to change the structure of the season and bring both its flagship events under one umbrella and thus came to life the ‘BWF World Tour’.

Under the new tour format, there are now 37 tournaments in a season that have been divided into six ‘levels’ based on the host country and the prize money on offer. It was also made mandatory for the top 15 singles players and the top 10 doubles pairs to play a minimum of 12 events in a season or face a penalty.

The BWF World Tour kicked off at the start of the 2018 season and will be used at least till 2021.

How are events divided in this new Tour?

The badminton season 2018 onwards is now divided into two ‘Grades’.

Grade 1 comprises of big-ticket tournaments like the World Championships, the Mixed Team Championships (Sudirman Cup) and the senior and junior World Championships.

Grade 2 is where most of our badminton players are seen in action through the year and it’s divided into six levels the biggest of which is the season-ending World Tour Finals that now have a prize purse of $1.5 million. PV Sindhu was the first winner of this event, in 2018.

• Level 1 (BWF World Tour Finals)
• Level 2 (BWF World Tour Super 1000)
• Level 3 (BWF World Tour Super 750)
• Level 4 (BWF World Tour Super 500)
• Level 5 (BWF World Tour Super 300)
• Level 6 (BWF Tour Super 100)

What are the different events and their prize money?

More tournaments to play every year, more pressure on players to stay fit and constantly perform but the one incentive that the BWF did provide was the bump up in prize money of the tournaments. Each of the six levels of events have a different prize bracket.

• Level 1 ($1.5 million): World Tour Finals
• Level 2 ($1 million): China, All England and Indonesia
• Level 3 ($700,000): China, Denmark, France, Japan and Malaysia
• Level 4 ($350,000): Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand
• Level 5 ($150,000): Australia, Chinese Taipei, Germany, India, Korea, Macau, New Zealand, Spain, Switzerland and USA
• Level 6: Open category

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty’s historic win on Sunday was at the Thailand Open, a Level 4 Super 500 tournament.