Mumbai, Sep 9 (IANS): The Badminton World Federation (BWF) and Badminton Association of India (BAI) have agreed to cancel the Syed Modi India International, scheduled to be held in Lucknow from October 12 to 17, due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Tournament organisers Badminton Association of India (BAI) made the decision in consultation and collaboration with local government authorities and the BWF, the international federation informed in a release on Thursday.

"The BWF regrets the cancellation but remains committed to delivering a safe and structured series of badminton tournaments for the rest of the year including the culmination to the BWF World Tour," said the statement.

The organisers had to cancel the event as air travel restrictions are still in force

With the cancellation of Syed Modi India International, a BWF 300 Series event, means India will not host any event this year as the other two events on the calendar -- the India Open 2021 scheduled for May and Hyderabad Open, to be held in August, were also cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The Syed Modi International was called off last year too.

While announcing the cancellation of the Syed Modi International, the BWF also listed the events for the BWF World Tour that returns from October 19 with the Denmark Open 2021, which has been upgraded to a Super 1000 event from Super 750 because of cancellation of the China Open.

The Spanish Masters in May was the last BWF World Tour event to be held this year.

In all seven events will be held between October 10 and December 19 on the World Tour.

The season will resume with the Sudirman Cup Finals from September 26-October 3, followed by the Thomas and Uber Cup Finals from October 9-17.