Hong Kong players told to stay in safety bubble in Malaysia ahead of Asian Team Badminton Championships as the country endures surge in coronavirus infections
- Hong Kong are sending men’s and women’s teams to the tournament in Shah Alam, Malaysia, which acts as a qualifier for the Thomas Cup and Uber Cup finals
- Angus Ng and Lee Cheuk-yiu will spearhead the men’s team while a young women’s side are hoping to gain more international exposure
Hong Kong’s young guns are looking forward to their first taste of overseas competition in almost two years as they strive for honours at next week’s Asia Team Badminton Championships in Malaysia, which is in the middle of a Covid-19 surge.
The Southeast Asian nation recorded 21,000 Covid-19 cases on Friday and Hong Kong’s 20-member squad have been told to stay in the competition’s safety bubble, maintain good personal hygiene and do their best to avoid infection.
“They are in the middle of a five-day quarantine before coming out for training on Sunday,” said Sports Institute head badminton coach Tim He Yiming. “There is of course the risk of travelling to overseas countries for competitions these days because of the pandemic but many of our young players have not competed for a long time, almost two years, and they are eager to get back to the courts.
“The tournament will be conducted under a safety bubble and players must have received two jabs of vaccination before their arrival, with relevant quarantine requirements required. And if our players strictly follow all rules, they should be fine to start.”
The badminton world tour, like many global sporting circuits, has been severely hit by the pandemic and only a handful of tournaments, mostly the top level ones, were able to survive over the past two years. Many of the junior players, however, have been denied entry because they were lacking the required world rankings.
The tournament, in Shah Alam, Selangor, features men’s and women’s team competitions and is also a qualifier for the Thomas and Uber Cup finals slated for May in Bangkok.
Hong Kong have sent a strong men’s team, headed by top players Angus Ng Ka-long, the world number nine, and world number 17 Lee Cheuk-yiu, along with a handful of young players such as Jason Gunawan, Chow Hin-long and Lui Chun-wai.
The women’s team will be without their two top singles players, Cheung Ngan-yi and Yip Pui-yin, but headed by Cheung Ying-mei. Cheung, 28 and doubles specialist Yuen Sin-ying, 27, are the two veterans in the team while others are all up and coming players.
“The men’s team will try to get through to the Thomas Cup finals while the women’s team will take the opportunity to gain more international exposure, especially for the young players,” the coach said.
The region’s leading side, China, as well as Taiwan and Thailand, have pulled out of the tournament because of the pandemic situation, reports say.
Hong Kong have been drawn in Group A with Indonesia, India and South Korea while Group B features Japan, Malaysia, Singapore and Kazakhstan. The other three teams in Group A have not sent their top players, with Malaysia’s Lee Zii Jia the highest-ranked player at world number seven.
In the women’s event, Hong Kong are in Group Z with South Korea, Indonesia and Kazakhstan while Group Y features Japan, Malaysia and India.
The top four teams will advance to the Thomas and Uber Cup finals. The team event is a best-of-five format through three singles and two doubles matches.
Hong Kong’s top mixed doubles pair, Tang Chun-man and Tse Ying-suet, are being rested after clinching a bronze medal at the World Championships in December.
