BWF Events: Explained
Everything you need to know about following professional badminton.
Like all major governing bodies in sport, it is the BWF’s role to organize competitive events — tournaments, if you will. And I will.
BWF tournaments are split into three categories: Grade 1 (S-tier), Grade 2 (A-tier), and Grade 3 (B-tier).
Grade 1
As the name suggests, these events are the pinnacle of the sport. I would compare them to Grand Slams in tennis, but that would be a bit misleading. With the exception of the BWF World Championships, Grade 1 tournaments do not occur every year. Prominent examples include the Olympic and Paralympic Games, as well as the Thomas Cup, Uber Cup, and Sudirman Cup — all of which are biennial team events.
Grade 2
Introduced in 2018 as the BWF World Tour, this is the bread-and-butter of professional badminton. This replaced the previous “Superseries” structure which, to say the least, was pretty difficult to understand even for the most ardent badminton follower.
This time, there are similarities to be drawn with tennis, namely through the numerical grading of the tournaments. The World Tour consists of six levels, ranked from most to least prestigious:
- BWF World Tour Finals
- BWF World Tour Super 1000
- BWF World Tour Super 750
- BWF World Tour Super 500
- BWF World Tour Super 300 (The US Open is here!)
- BWF World Tour Super 100
Badminton’s equivalent of the Grand Slams occupy the Super 1000 category. These are the All England Open, Indonesia Open, China Open, and Malaysia Open. That said, the BWF has been known to shift events up and down categories, sometimes even grades. The Malaysia Open is a case in point, only acquiring Super 1000 status in 2023.
There is no upper limit on how many tournaments a player can enter. However, for players ranked in the top fifteen for singles, or the top ten for doubles, there is a lower limit. This elite group are required to play all four Super 1000s, all six Super 750s, and two Super 500s, or risk a $5,000 penalty.
The World Tour Finals takes place in December, and is open only to the top eight players or pairs in each discipline. Crucially, qualification is not based on the BWF World Rankings, but rather a different system called “Race to Finals,” which only accounts for individual performances in World Tour events a given year. In other words, only points earned in Grade 2 events will count.
Grade 3
Commonly referred to as “Continental Circuit,” these tournaments are typically viewed as a breeding ground for developing players or players from underfunded federations. These are split into three categories:
- International Challenge
- International Series
- Future Series
These still contribute World Ranking points, and as such are invaluable in moving players up the rankings, as well as earning spots in Grade 1 events, which generally have larger and more diverse player pools than Grade 2.
Where do I watch?
That ultimately depends on where you are. In a lot of non-Asian markets (including the USA), it is likely that the BWF does not have broadcasting partners. In that case, matches will be live-streamed on YouTube, courtesy of the BWF themselves.
