Korea to host world’s richest tournament

Korea will host the world’s richest badminton competition of the season this week, with the sport’s brightest stars vying for big prize money.

The 22nd Korea Open tournament will kick off today with the preliminary rounds in men’s and women’s singles and doubles, plus mixed doubles.

The competition will get underway in earnest tomorrow with the rounds of 32.

The finals for all the disciplines are scheduled for Sunday.

The total purse for the tournament is $1 million, the largest for any badminton event this year.

The Korea Open is one of five Premier Super Series events run by the Badminton World Federation, the global governing body of the sport.

It runs a 12-leg Super Series plus the Super Series Masters Final.

The Korea Open, the Indonesia Open, the Denmark Open, All England Open and the China Open have Premier status. Players ranked among the top 10 in the world must participate in Premier Super Series tournaments.

Yonhap