Update: Neslihan Yigit, the Turkish player who was on the same flight as the Indonesian team, has been ejected from the tournament as well.
Original story follows.
The Indonesian badminton team’s dream of winning this year’s All England has been smashed to pieces after they were forced to withdraw from the tournament, sparking outrage in the badminton-obsessed country as Indonesians accuse tournament officials of discrimination and unfairness.
In a statement issued today, the Badminton World Federation (BWF) confirmed that a number of players and team members from the Indonesian team were contacted by the UK’s National Health Service (NHS) and ordered to self-isolate “with immediate effect” for 10 days from the date of their inbound flight to Birmingham on Saturday, Mar. 13, after an unidentified passenger in their Turkish Airlines flight tested positive for the coronavirus.
The order is in accordance with the UK government’s regulation, which requires people to isolate themselves for 10 days if they were in the same flight with passengers who tested positive for coronavirus.
The team had already taken a COVID-19 test upon their arrival at their hotel, Crowne Plaza Birmingham City Centre, which they all tested negative for.
“All Indonesian players will not be able to compete in the current or next round of the tournament and have therefore been withdrawn from the YONEX All England Open 2021,” the statement reads.
Yesterday’s matches saw Indonesian men’s doubles pair Kevin Sanjaya/Marcus Gideon beating England’s Matthew Clare/Ethan van Leeuwen, while in the men’s singles category Indonesia’s Jonatan Christie beat Thailand’s Kunlavut Vitidsarn. NHS reportedly contacted them not long after another men’s doubles pair, Mohammad Ahsan/Hendra Setiawan, managed to beat England’s Ben Lane/Sean Vendy. All of them were supposed to advance to the round of 16 of the tournament.
Fajar Alfian/Muhammad Rian Ardianto, Anthony Sinisuka Ginting, and mixed doubles pair Praveen Jordan/Melati Daeva Oktavianti were slated to play on the same day. Their respective rivals were awarded walkovers as the Indonesian team had been withdrawn from the tournament at that point. After Ahsan/Hendra’s match, the Indonesian team were taken to their hotel by the organizers for their self-isolation.
The Indonesian Badminton Association (PBSI) pointed out that Turkish badminton player Neslihan Yigit, who was on the same flight with the Indonesian squad, is still playing at the tournament.
Indonesian fans trended #BWFMustBeResponsible earlier today to protest the decision, while accusing BWF of unfairness towards the Indonesian team. In addition, the Wikipedia page for All England has been edited as such at the time of writing.
PBSI Chairman Agung Firman Sampurna said that the Indonesian team doesn’t have any problems with BWF and called them “objective and professional,” as the isolation order came directly from the NHS. As of today, PBSI has yet to receive any information regarding the infected passenger in question, who could have been in contact with any of the 24 team members.
“I say that with our preparations now, this is one of the ways to prevent Indonesia from becoming champions, by disabling us from competing. Because if we compete, we’re very dangerous. And we’re the favorites to win, one of the strongest and we have beaten England,” Agung said in a press conference in Jakarta today.
Indonesia’s Youth and Sports Minister Zainudin Amali expressed support for PBSI’s efforts to prove the alleged discrimination against the Indonesian badminton team in All England, which is one of the oldest badminton tournaments in the world.
“Of course I support PBSI and encourage them to take steps so that we will not be treated [with discrimination] like that. If we remain silent — like if we think there are indications of unfairness, injustice — and we ignore it, we’ll be seen as weak. We will be treated the same at events like this,” Zainudin said in a press conference.
“Therefore, we support PBSI to take steps in questioning BWF as well as Badminton Asia so that people know that we won’t stay silent. We feel the injustice against our athletes.”
