Coronavirus outbreak: Hong Kong badminton team look to Europe after the Philippines forces them to find alternative training camps
- Hong Kong decides to forgo the Asian Team Championships in Manila after organisers order strict travel ban to participants
- Head coach Tim He wants to take his squad to Europe ‘as soon as possible’ for training to avoid situations complicated by the virus
Hong Kong badminton team head coach Tim He Yiming wants to bring his squad to Europe for training “as soon as possible” after they were barred from entering the Asian Team Championships in the Philippines because of the coronavirus outbreak.
A 20-member squad, which comprises 10 men and 10 women players, was supposed to leave for Manila on Friday but the trip was cancelled after the Philippines this week introduced strict travel requirements to all persons coming from China and its two special administrative regions – Hong Kong and Macau.
Despite intervention from the Asian Badminton Federation who tried to diffuse the situation, Hong Kong were told on Saturday that players would need to be quarantined for 14 days upon their arrival. The tournament, featuring 12 men and 12 women teams from the region, kicks off on Tuesday.
“We need to put the Manila event behind us and we make sure our players can take part in other events,” said coach He. “We plan to bring the squad to Europe for training camps as early as possible because we have to consider the epidemic situation in Hong Kong. We don’t know what will happen next and how other countries will respond [to the outbreak].”
The 2020 Olympic qualification ends in April and Hong Kong players such as Angus Ng Ka-long, Lee Cheuk-yiu, Cheung Ngan-yi, Tang Chun-man and Tse Ying-suet are chasing spots to make it to Tokyo.