NEW DELHI, Feb. 12 -- The Indian badminton circuit was dealt a major blow on Monday when the Badminton World Federation (BWF) announced its World Tour cycle from 2027 to 2030. While India Open maintained its status as a Super 750 event, the BWF announced that India will host only two World Tour events - a drop from four - from the next cycle. Odisha Masters and Guwahati Masters - both Super 100 events - got shelved but what made it worse was that a legacy event like the Syed Modi India International was downgraded from Super 300 to 100. "These competitions were good for the country," said former chief coach U Vimal Kumar. "I'm a little concerned. It is sad and disappointing for the players because badminton is really exploding in India. These events were opportunities for many Indians. Syed Modi is one of the oldest tournaments. Right from Viktor Axelsen to (PV) Sindhu and Saina (Nehwal), everybody has played." The BWF has reduced the total number of tournaments annually from 40 to 36 with the lower tier competitions getting hit the hardest. This year BWF will host 20 events across Super 300 and 100 which will be reduced to 16 from next season. This has happened because the number of Super 1000 tournaments have been increased from four to five in an already packed calendar. More importantly, Super 1000 will become 11-day events (earlier six days) with the BWF major events becoming longer at 12. "There was no chance to save the two Super 100 events. We had requested for all four to be included in the schedule but the BWF wanted to offer Super 100 and 300 events to smaller badminton nations," said BAI secretary general Sanjay Mishra. The calendar will continue to have the two International Challenges (not part of World Tour) in Bengaluru and Hyderabad with Mishra adding that they will try to introduce one in the near future. The last three months of the year used to be a dream-like situation for Indian shuttlers with five successive events - one Super 300, two Super 100 and two International Challenges - lined up. These lower tier events used to give Indian shuttlers a footing before entering the top tier. "It is not ideal. Most players will now have to shell out that extra money to travel abroad to play. Earlier, they had options in India," says former national champion Sayali Gokhale. "Financially, it was much easier for them to have more international exposure here. Now they will have to look at other cheaper options in Asia as Europe is obviously costlier which will increase the financial burden." More than the finances, what will hit the players more are the opportunities lost to earn vital ranking points. Upcoming players who are trying to make a mark, ply their trade regularly at the International Challenges (lowest tier on the circuit), Super 100 and 300 events to gain ranking points which help them qualify for higher level tournaments. "It will be a monetary hit but the bigger cost is the loss of rankings points. If you ask players ranked between 50-150, they are happy to pay as long as they don't lose rankings points," said former India international Anup Sridhar....