Coronavirus: Hong Kong badminton stars face being barred from next week’s Asia Team Championships in Manila
- Twenty-strong Hong Kong men’s and women’s squads, headed by Angus Ng and Cheung Ngan-yi, are chasing precious ranking points for Olympics
- Philippines has banned all travellers from China, including Hong Kong, because of the spreading coronavirus
“We hope this can be resolved swiftly,” said head coach Tim He Yiming. “As far as we understand, all relevant bodies are working hard on the issue, including the Asian Badminton Federation and the Hong Kong Badminton Association.
“Every tournament is important at this stage as the Olympic qualification is due to finish in two months and if we can’t take part in the event, it will cost some of the players dearly.”
The Philippines this week introduced travel bans covering all persons coming directly from China and its two special administrative regions, Hong Kong and Macau.
Hong Kong men’s number two Lee Cheuk-yiu is 15th on the qualification list and must hold his position in the top 16 position until qualification ends in April to be eligible as the second player from Hong Kong behind Ng for the 2020 Tokyo Games.