Coronavirus: Taiwan badminton team’s training partner infected after Europe trip

The Hong Kong badminton team are on full alert after a training partner in the Taiwan team was infected with coronavirus on returning from a European trip, including the All England Open Championships in Birmingham.

Head coach Tim He Yiming said the case sounded a warning to Hong Kong players as they had also been playing regularly on the world tour.

“It can happen to anyone, from ordinary people to a top-class athlete who has supreme physical ability,” He said. “I am sure the Taiwan camp will be greatly affected – what will their players be thinking now? For sure, they have had contact with the training partner during the tournaments. It has put everybody under tension.”

Taiwan boast two of the world’s best singles players – Tai Tzu-ying just won the All England Open title and regained her world number one spot, while Chou Tien-chen reached the men’s final in Birmingham, losing to Viktor Axelsen of Denmark. Both are strong medal contenders for the Tokyo Olympics, if the Games go ahead in July as scheduled.

Hong Kong’s Angus Ng Ka-long would have played Taiwan number two Wang Tzu-wei in Birmingham but was surprisingly beaten by unheralded Kenta Nishimoto of Japan in the opening round. Nishimoto then lost to Wang, who was believed to have had contact with the training partner, in the next round.

Ng and his teammates returned to Hong Kong before the tournament was completed on March 15, trying to avoid a 14-day home quarantine order by the government for those who came back from Great Britain. They went for the coronavirus test after returning to Hong Kong but the results were negative, according to He.

The coach said the players might go for the test once more this week, fearing the results might change. They are all in quarantine after the Sports Institute decided last week to isolate athletes who have returned to Hong Kong since March 5.

With the Badminton World Federation suspending all tournaments until next month, the official qualification campaign for Tokyo is completed.

Hong Kong’s Lee Cheuk-yiu, who also suffered an early exit in the first round at the All England Open, was dumped out of the world’s top 16 in the standings to 20th and missed out on a spot in Tokyo. A nation can only send two players in the singles if they are both in the top 16. Ng is the only top-16 player from Hong Kong, in eighth.

However, Hong Kong was forced to miss the Asia Team Championships in Manila in February due to the wide spread of the coronavirus, which could have earned Lee a minimum 5,000 points and put him back in the top 16.

“We will appeal, for sure,” coach He said. “This is not fair. We were all ready to go to Manila but a last-minute 14-day quarantine by the Philippines authorities deprived us of the opportunity of attending the tournament.

“We are not asking for more. We only want the minimum 5,000 points which any player can earn once they took part in the event.”