Indonesia irate over All England exit
Print Edition
Indonesia鈥檚 sports minister has questioned the fairness of the exclusion of the country鈥檚 badminton team from the All England Open and called on the national governing body to pursue the matter with the Badminton World Federation.
The team was 鈥渨ithdrawn鈥 from the prestigious tournament after the players had been instructed by British health authorities to isolate for 10 days because a passenger on their flight to England tested positive for COVID-19, the BWF said on Wednesday.
鈥淚 lament what happened to the Indonesian badminton team,鈥 minister Zainudin Amali said in a streamed conference yesterday. 鈥淚t wasn鈥檛 their fault, but they鈥檙e bearing the brunt.鈥
Zainudin told reporters he understood that a player of a different nationality on the same flight was still in the tournament, which started behind closed doors in Birmingham on Wednesday.
鈥淚 urge the association to take measures so that we don鈥檛 get treated this way,鈥 the minister added.
鈥淚f we stay silent 鈥 like if we think there鈥檚 indications of unfairness, injustice 鈥 and we ignore it, we鈥檒l be seen as weak. So I urge the association to take measures to question the BWF and its Asia federation so that people know that we won鈥檛 stand for it. We feel the injustice in our players.鈥
The BWF said in a statement yesterday that the player onboard with the Indonesian team, Neslihan Yigit of Turkey, was also withdrawn from the tournament.
鈥淭his is a very unfortunate circumstance, and something BWF and Badminton England did not wish for, for the Indonesian team and Yigit from Turkey,鈥 the BWF said.
The withdrawal attracted furor on social media yesterday, with the hashtag #BWFMustBeResponsible trending on Twitter in Indonesia, where badminton is hugely popular and leading players are stars.
Chief of the Indonesian Badminton Association, or PBSI, Agung Firman Sampurna said that he respected the BWF鈥檚 decision but was still holding out hope of a reprieve for the players.
鈥淲e鈥檒l still fight for it, maybe there鈥檚 a room open for us to play at the tournament,鈥 he told reporters. 鈥淏ut if we don鈥檛, we don鈥檛 have to feel bad. We鈥檙e champions who are postponed.鈥
The BWF had said earlier on Wednesday that the tournament would take place with a full complement of players after delaying the start to allow the re-testing of some player samples for COVID-19.
The re-tests, all of which the BWF said returned negative results, were necessary after doubts were raised about the accuracy of the original batches of tests submitted by Badminton England.
Marcus Fernaldi Gideon, who won the All England Open men鈥檚 doubles titles with Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo in 2017 and 2018, said the Indonesian players had all tested negative upon arrival in England.
鈥淭he BWF has failed to organize this matter,鈥 he said in an Instagram post.
鈥淚f there are strict rules for entering Britain due to COVID, the BWF should have put in place a bubble system that guarantees our safety.鈥
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 娌狪CP璇侊細娌狪CP澶05050403鍙-1
- |
- 浜掕仈缃戞柊闂讳俊鎭湇鍔¤鍙瘉锛31120180004
- |
- 缃戠粶瑙嗗惉璁稿彲璇侊細0909346
- |
- 骞挎挱鐢佃鑺傜洰鍒朵綔璁稿彲璇侊細娌瓧绗354鍙
- |
- 澧炲肩數淇′笟鍔＄粡钀ヨ鍙瘉锛氭勃B2-20120012
Copyright 漏 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
