Badminton is governed globally by the Badminton World Federation (BWF). The BWF stages tournaments globally at different tiers in terms of ranking points and prize pool on offer. Top professionals from the sport can be seen competing in these events. In each event based on their performance and rankings, players are slotted in the draw.
The number of players who are eligible to play for a tournament depends on the stature of the tournament and its associated draw size. Higher ranked players get a direct entry into the main draw. The ones who are ranked lower are placed in a qualifying draw. The purpose of the qualifying draw is to determine the better performing players among the lower ranked players.
A qualifying draw’s size also varies depending on the main draw size. Players face each other in qualifying round matches. The winners are later positioned in the main draw through a blinding system.
Ahead of a tournament, the match officials have to prepare a list of main draw and qualifying draw entrants. If a player who is positioned in the main draw withdraws, the empty slot will be filled by the a player from the qualifying draw. Alongside the player’s name is the abbreviation PFQ, which means Promoted from Qualifiers.
The decision on which player from the qualifying draw will replace the withdrawal of the main draw depends on the time of withdrawal. If the player withdrew before the qualifying round matches started, then the highest ranked player from the qualifying draw is promoted. If the decision is made after the matches in the qualifying round have started, then preference is given to a player who has not yet lost the match in the qualifying draw. However, this decision is often left upon the tournament officials. Moreover, according to the BWF rules, such a player can be promoted even by halting an ongoing qualifying draw match of the player about to be promoted.
PFQ is thus a component of the main draw of a badminton tournament which is occupied by a player who was previously positioned in the qualifying draw.
