Badminton World Federation, on Tuesday, announced that India will host the World Badminton Championships in 2026. Earlier, India was scheduled to organise the Sudirman Cup in 2023 but the BWF shifted the event out of India and awarded China the rights to host the world mixed team championships.

“Suzhou will now stage the 2023 edition of the BWF World Mixed Team Championships, with original 2023 hosts India accepting the opportunity to host the BWF World Championships in 2026,” the BWF said in a media release.

“The Badminton World Federation (BWF) can confirm Suzhou, China has been awarded the hosting rights of the TotalEnergies BWF Sudirman Cup Finals 2023,” the release added.

“Suzhou was due to host the championships in 2021, but with BWF unable to stage any tournaments in China this year, the event was switched to Vantaa in Finland.”

This will only be the second time that India will be hosting the world championship, with Hyderabad having played hosts to the prestigious event in 2009.

“Staging a tournament of the stature of World Championships is a great achievement for us at Badminton Association of India as well as for the country,” Badminton Association of India (BAI) president Himanta Biswa Sarma said.

“We are thankful to BWF for considering India for Badminton’s most prestigious and premier tournament and I believe with world class shuttlers coming to participate will not only be a great opportunity and motivation for the enthusiasts of the game but will see a huge growth for the sport across the country too,” he added.

Olympic medallist PV Sindhu is the reigning world champion in women’s singles. She has also won silver and two bronze medals at the World Championships.

B Sai Praneeth had ended a 36-year-long wait for a men’s singles world championships medal at Basel, Switzerland two years ago.

In the 2015 and 2017 editions, Saina Nehwal had won the silver and bronze medals, respectively. The women’s doubles pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and Jwala Gutta had won the bronze in London, 2011.