Delhi Smog Fight Returns: BWF Keeps India Open in Pollution Season Through 2027

Delhi is currently hosting the BWF World Championships without a single pollution headline so far this week. According to the sport's own players, that's notable given what happens in winter.

World No. 4 Anders Antonsen of Denmark is spending the tournament, being held at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium from August 17-23, making one point over and over: Delhi in August is fine. Delhi in January is not.

"This is just fine. I've experienced way worse air pollution than it is right now," Antonsen told Sportstar after a practice session. He called the arena "beautiful" and had zero complaints about the venue itself.

But ask him about the India Open, the Super 750 tournament the Badminton World Federation (BWF) has traditionally scheduled for Delhi in January or February, and the tone flips fast. "When I open the windows in the morning, I can see stuff. But if I do that in January, I can't see the building next to me," Antonsen told Rediff. "So imagine having your pulse high and trying to fight for air. It's not a pleasant feeling."

This isn't a new complaint from Antonsen. He's skipped the India Open three years running, according to Hindustan Times, eating a mandatory $5,000 fine each time rather than compete in what he calls "pretty insane" pollution. He told The Wire he'd rather pay a fourth fine than change his mind.

The numbers back him up. The 2025 World Air Quality Report from IQAir ranked New Delhi the most polluted capital city on Earth, with average PM2.5 concentration hitting 82.2 micrograms per cubic meter in 2025. India ranked sixth most polluted nation overall out of 143 countries measured.

BWF's answer: a small shuffle, not a fix

Badminton's governing body has heard the complaints. Its response, laid out by secretary general Thomas Lund to reporters in Delhi, is a modest one.

The BWF has already announced the India Open will shift a few weeks later, to February 2-7, for the 2027 calendar, according to the New Indian Express. That's it. No move out of the polluted season entirely, and no commitment beyond next year.

"It hasn't been possible to totally move out of the first quarter," Lund said, citing logistical constraints across the full BWF tour calendar. "It is documented that pollution will go down a little bit further into January, February," he added, framing the shift as data-driven rather than cosmetic.

Lund isn't dismissing the players. He told the Times of India the BWF will keep "looking at" the data and stays "open to exploring all options in the future." He also wants something back from the athletes: patience. "We just obviously hope for the players' understanding that we live in a world where everything cannot just be set up," he said, pointing to India Open's importance as "a super important market" for the sport.

That's a fair institutional constraint to state plainly. Moving one tournament means reshuffling an entire global calendar with dozens of other events, sponsors, and broadcast windows already locked in. Former national-level player Pradeep Aarya made that case directly to Hindustan Times, arguing India Open "cannot just be shifted because of one player" and calling Antonsen's stance "a bit of an overreaction."

Others in India's badminton community see it differently. Former international shuttler Jagdish Yadav told Hindustan Times that pollution concerns are already costing India top competition: "A lot of players do not like to come to India, and that means our players don't get to compete with the best of the best." He pointed to alternative venues already built for major events, including Surat, Guwahati, Hyderabad, and Bengaluru, arguing infrastructure isn't the obstacle. Sonipat academy coach Harendra Malik put it bluntly to the paper: foreign players "coming from countries that have AQI in the 10s" shouldn't be expected to compete in Delhi's winter smog.

Monkeys, pigeons, and a cleanup

While the pollution fight simmers for next year, organizers focused on a different embarrassment from the January tournament: wildlife.

According to the BBC, January's India Open saw matches halted by pigeon droppings on court and a monkey spotted inside the stadium. Ahead of the World Championships, the Sports Authority of India installed double-door systems that lock automatically, high-grade netting over potential entry points, and non-toxic gel on surfaces where pigeons might land, according to Sanjay Mishra, general secretary of the Badminton Association of India. Executive director Ambar Pratap Singh said structural upgrades hit all three major arenas, and lighting problems that caused shadows on court during the India Open were also fixed.

A video of a man mimicking a langur monkey's call, a traditional method of scaring off smaller rhesus macaques, went viral in India during setup week. Mishra told the BBC the association hadn't specifically hired anyone for that purpose, though multiple outlets reported such hires had taken place.

Whether the same measures will hold for the India Open in February 2027, when Delhi's air quality historically worsens rather than improves, is a question the BWF has now put off for at least one more year.

Antonsen said he hasn't decided whether he'll show up for that tournament or pay a fourth straight fine. "I don't know if next year will be the same," he told Rediff. "I haven't really decided 100 per cent yet."