Coronavirus blamed as Hong Kong badminton team fail to reach Thomas and Uber Cup finals
- Coronavirus outbreak forces Hong Kong to pull out of Asia team event, a qualifier for prestigious cup finals in Denmark in May
- Angus Ng loses chance to gain ranking points and bolster 2020 Olympics hopes
The Hong Kong badminton team’s streak of consecutive appearances at the prestigious Thomas and Uber Cups finals has ended as a result of their failure to compete in the Asia Team Championships because of the coronavirus outbreak.
The list of qualifiers for the world’s top men’s and women’s team competitions was announced on Tuesday and Hong Kong found themselves out in the cold after three consecutive appearances in the biennial event from 2014.
The Asia team event in the Philippines early this month was a qualifier for the Thomas and Uber Cups. The four semi-finalists in both continental events made it to the finals to be played in Aarhus, Denmark on May 16-24. Organisers of the Philippines tournament demanded that Hong Kong players undergo a 14-day quarantine period before being allowed to compete, which the Hong Kong was unable to do. Attempts by the world governing body, the Badminton World Federation, to mediate in the matter failed.
There are also three slots for the highest ranking teams in the region for the finals in Denmark but Hong Kong rank fourth in both.
Head coach Tim He Yiming said the absence from the Asian event had probably cost them their place in the finals but Hong Kong still needed to improve the depth of the squad for future events.
