Covid-19 tests, late pullouts as Hong Kong Badminton Championships turn farcical
- 1 out of the 10 semi-finals go ahead as players test positive, are named as close contacts or withdraw injured the night before
- Tournament was already being completed the year after it started, with closures of facilities during Covid-19 outbreak among the causes
Only one match was completed as the Hong Kong Badminton Championships took on a farcical look on Saturday, with last-minute injuries and Covid-19 tests ruling out most of the players and close-contact tracing completing the sorry domino effect.
Already happening behind closed doors, a tournament supposedly reaching its business end seemed largely closed for business following a string of late withdrawals.
World No 14 Lee Cheuk-yiu overcame Hong Kong teammate Jason Gunawan 2-1 in the men’s singles semi-finals – taking place fully nine months into the year after the one in which the tournament began.
But that was the only match that went ahead at the Hong Kong Sports Institute out of 10 scheduled semi-finals across five singles and doubles categories.
In the doubles, all six matches were suspended because of players testing positive for Covid-19, while three players in the other singles matches withdrew injured on Friday night.
Mixed doubles duo Tang Chun-man and Tse Ying-suet, Hong Kong’s highest-ranked pair at world No 7, were among the no-shows, despite being neither injured nor infected.