Badminton is a sport played using racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net.
The sport that requires the players to have aerobic stamina, agility, strength, speed, and precision, came from British India, before arriving to Europe and beyond. And for Asian nations, Indonesia has been one of the few that has been consistently participating in international events with their world-class players.
And in badminton, the Badminton World Federation (BWF) is the international governing body for the sport , recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
This time, the BWF has issued a statement, saying that United Kingdom’s National Health Service (NHS) was requiring a number of Indonesian players to self-isolate for 10 days after a person aboard the flight the team took from Istanbul, Turkey, to Birmingham, was tested positive for 'COVID-19' coronavirus.
To ensure everyone's safety, and the athletes themselves, the BWF is not allowing the Indonesian team to compete in the 2021 All England Open Championships in Birmingham.
"In accordance with UK Government requirements, the entire team will self-isolate for 10 days from the date of their inbound flight after a person travelling onboard tested positive for Covid-19." said a statement late on Wednesday. "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Indonesian players will not be able to compete in the current or next round of the tournament and have therefore been withdrawn from the All England Open 2021."
"We can confirm impassioned attempts were made by Badminton England to gain exemption for the players and Indonesian team members and to explore alternative options to guarantee their participation. However, the UK government’s legislation is in place, first and foremost, to protect the British public from COVID-19, and their decision was final and non-negotiable," added BWF.
The BWF also said that all competition results to the date of the Indonesian team's arrival date and the draw would remain unchanged, while all of the Indonesian team’s scheduled opponents in the next round would be given walkovers.
Quickly, the decision by BWF sparked disappointment from many Indonesians.
First of, only several Indonesian players who arrived earlier and not on the same flight have played opening matches on Wednesday, including men's fifth seed Jonatan Christie and men's doubles top seeds Marcus Fernaldi Gideon and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo.
In addition to Marcus and Kevin, men’s singles shuttler Jonatan Christie and men’s pair Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan were also prevailing.
Second, the start of the prestigious tournament had already been delayed by five hours after players and officials from Denmark, India and Thailand have shown a number of positive and "inconclusive" results from first tests. But when they were retested, and results came out negative, they were allowed to participate.
Marcus went on Instagram to express his disappointment over the decision he thinks isn't fair.
“Some of you may notice that today’s game was delayed prior to [the discovery of ] seven positive cases among members [of other countries’ teams]. After they were retested, the results all turned out negative,” Marcus wrote on his Instagram account. “So why don’t we also have the same justice here? If there are strict rules for entering the [country] due to COVID-19, the BWF should have established a bubble system to guarantee our safety,” Marcus said.
He said that all Indonesian athletes and officials had tested negative for COVID-19 before boarding the flight to Birmingham and upon arriving at the hotel.
Marcus was clearly disappointed with the local organizer and the BWF, which he accused of failing to deal with the matter clearly.
The athlete disappointment that was expressed on Instagram, was followed by Kevin and others that include Mohammad Ashan, Hendra Setiawan, Mealti Daeva Oktavianati, Greysia Polii, and Apriyani Rahayu.
Indonesians also flooded BWF's Instagram account, as they request clarification of the situation.
Indonesian Badminton Association (PBSI) chairman Agung Firman Sampurna has also expressed his disappointment with the situation during a press briefing in Jakarta, also urging the NHS and the tournament organizers to clarify their decision.
“We made optimum preparations regarding the health protocols [before departing for England]. All players and officials underwent PCR [polymerase chain reaction] tests and were given the vaccine twice,” explained Agung, who also serves as the chairman of the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK).
Youth and Sports Minister Zainudin Amali urged the badminton association to demand clarification from the BWF and its Asian chapter, Badminton Asia, in order to avoid any speculation about the incident.
“The BWF should be objective in looking at this case to see what’s really happening. This is surely not our team’s mistake, but they’re the ones who are facing the consequences,” the minister said.
Indonesian Ambassador to the UK ,Desra Percaya, said he had sent a letter to the NHS to ask for clarification on why not all the team members had received the notification to self-isolate.
While he expressed his sympathy for the Indonesian team after its removal from the All England tournament, British Ambassador to Indonesia Owen Jenkins said it was “right for countries to apply strict health protocols […] fairly and transparently.”
It should be noted that the 2020's All England Open was the final event on the BWF calendar to be played before the sport shut down because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
International competition resumed in Denmark in October, but was later suspended again until January when three tournaments, including the World Tour Finals, that were staged in a biosecure "bubble" in Thailand.
While the All England Open is considered a prestigious event, results in the matches won't count towards Olympic qualification. This led to some Asian badminton nations, like China, South Korea and Taiwan, to opt out and not travel to the UK due to the pandemic.
