2021 All England Open

2021 All England Open
Tournament details
Dates	17–21 March
Edition	111th
Level	Super 1000
Total prize money	US$850,000
Venue	Utilita Arena Birmingham
Location	Birmingham, England
Champions
Men's singles	Lee Zii Jia
Women's singles	Nozomi Okuhara
Men's doubles	Hiroyuki Endo; Yuta Watanabe
Women's doubles	Mayu Matsumoto; Wakana Nagahara
Mixed doubles	Yuta Watanabe; Arisa Higashino
← 2020	2022 →

The 2021 All England Open (officially known as the Yonex All England Open Badminton Championships 2021 for sponsorship reasons) was a badminton tournament which took place at Utilita Arena Birmingham in England from 17 to 21 March 2021. It had a total purse of $850,000.

Tournament

The 2021 All England Open became the second tournament of the 2021 BWF World Tour following the postponement of the 2021 German Open due to the ongoing pandemic. It was part of the All England Open championships, which had been held since 1899. This tournament was organized by Badminton England and sanctioned by the BWF.^[1]

Venue

This tournament was held at Utilita Arena Birmingham in Birmingham, England.^[1]

Point distribution

Below is the point distribution for each phase of the tournament based on the BWF points system for the BWF World Tour Super 1000 event.^[2] This tournament would not be calculated in qualification ranking of 2020 Summer Olympics.

Winner	Runner-up	3/4	5/8	9/16	17/32
12,000	10,200	8,400	6,600	4,800	3,000

Prize money

The total prize money for this tournament was US$850,000. Distribution of prize money was in accordance with BWF regulations.^[1]

Event	Winner	Finals	Semi-finals	Quarter-finals	Last 16	Last 32
Singles	$59,500	$28,900	$11,900	$4,675	$2,550	$850
Doubles	$62,900	$29,750	$11,900	$5,312.50	$2,762.50	$850

Controversies

On 17 March 2021 night local time, BWF stated that all Indonesian players competing in the tournament, including all three who had won in the first round, were withdrawn from the tournament after 20 of 24 people from the team were contacted by the NHS Test and Trace service via e-mail, and were required to enter 10-day isolation. They were contacted by the NHS after someone on the same inbound flight from Istanbul to Birmingham with the team was tested positive for COVID-19.^[3]^[4] The entire team was forced to walk on foot from the arena to the hotel as their shuttle service was prevented from taking them to the hotel.^[5]

This sparked controversy between Indonesian players and the BWF. The Indonesians protested because 3 Indian players who are tested positive before the tournament,^[6] though 24 hours later tested negative after self testing,^[7] were allowed to play on the tournament, while all of Indonesian team members had tested negative for the virus.^[8] The start of the tournament itself had been delayed for five hours after 7 of COVID-19 results were deemed inconclusive.^[9] The Badminton Association of Indonesia (PBSI) also stated that Turkish badminton player Neslihan Yiğit and her trainer who were on the same flight with the Indonesian team from Istanbul to Birmingham, but Yiğit was allowed to continue her tournament.^[10] On 18 March noon local time, Yiğit was announced to had also been withdrawn from the tournament by the BWF.^[11]

Earlier, the first round of the men's doubles between Indonesians Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan and English pair Ben Lane and Sean Vendy sparked backlashes because of an arrangement where the service judge on duty, Alan Crow, was also English.^[12] However, according to the rules, BWF never explicitly prohibits a technical official to officiate a match involving athletes from the same country with the technical official against athletes from another country.^[13]

Indonesian National Olympic Committee also alleged unprofessional and discriminatory treatment by BWF, as Indonesian team are not allowed to use lifts and take the bus by the organizers.^[14] On 22 March, the president of BWF Poul-Erik Høyer Larsen officially apologizes to Indonesian Youth and Sports Minister for the circumstances faced by Indonesian team during the event.^[15]

Men's singles

Seeds

Kento Momota (quarter-finals)
Viktor Axelsen (final)
Anders Antonsen (semi-finals)
Anthony Sinisuka Ginting (first round)
Jonatan Christie (second round)
Lee Zii Jia (champion)
Rasmus Gemke (second round)
Srikanth Kidambi (first round)

Finals

Semi-finals					Final

6	Lee Zii Jia	21	21

	Mark Caljouw	13	17
					6	Lee Zii Jia	30	20	21

					2	Viktor Axelsen	29	22	9
3	Anders Antonsen	21	7	17

2	Viktor Axelsen	16	21	21

Top half

Section 1

First Round				Second Round				Quarter-finals

1	K Momota	21	22

	Parupalli K	13	20
				1	K Momota	21	21

					Prannoy K	15	14
	Liew D	10	10

	Prannoy K	21	21
								1	K Momota	16	19

								6	Lee Z J	21	21
6	Lee Z J	21	21

	B Yang	13	10
				6	Lee Z J	21	21

					H-K Vittinghus	12	13
	H-K Vittinghus	21	21

	M Zilberman	16	19

Section 2

First Round					Second Round				Quarter-finals

4	A S Ginting

	T Rouxel	w	/	o
						T Rouxel	18	17

						L Sen	21	21
	L Sen	21	21

	K Wangcharoen	18	12
										L Sen	17	21	17

										M Caljouw	21	16	21
8	S Kidambi	11	21	12

PFR	N Nguyen	21	15	21
					PFR	N Nguyen	18	7

						M Caljouw	21	21
	M Caljouw	21	21

	K Phetpradab	7	7

Bottom half

Section 3

First Round				Second Round					Quarter-finals

	K Tsuneyama	21	21

	T Penty	17	14
					K Tsuneyama	21	18	21

				7	R Gemke	15	21	14
	K Nishimoto	13	14

7	R Gemke	21	21
										K Tsuneyama	16	21	11

									3	A Antonsen	21	9	21
	Y Coelho	11	19

	S Verma	21	21
					S Verma	20	10

				3	A Antonsen	22	21
	B Leverdez	14	18

3	A Antonsen	21	21

Section 4

First Round					Second Round					Quarter-finals

	P Abián	15	12

	S Thammasin	21	21
						S Thammasin	w	/	o

					5	J Christie
	K Vitidsarn	13	22

5	J Christie	21	24
											S Thammasin	4	15

										2	V Axelsen	21	21
	B. Sai Praneeth	21	22

	T J Popov	18	20
						B. Sai Praneeth	21	12	12

					2	V Axelsen	15	21	21
	K Watanabe	21	19	19

2	V Axelsen	13	21	21