A 17-year-old Chinese badminton player died after collapsing on the court mid-match following cardiac arrest during an Asian tournament in Indonesia, organizers announced Monday.
“Chinese singles player Zhang Zhijie collapsed on the court during a match in the evening” on Sunday, the Asian Badminton Confederation and the Indonesian Badminton Federation (PBSI) said in a joint statement.
Zhang Zhijie fell ill while facing Japan’s Kazuma Kawano in the first set with a score of 11-11 at the Asian Junior Badminton Championships in Yogyakarta, on the Indonesian island of Java.
“He was treated by the tournament doctor and medical team (and) was transported to the rescue ambulance in less than two minutes,” according to the statement. The young player was “taken to hospital where he died at 11:20 p.m.” on Sunday (4:20 p.m. GMT), the press release said.
“Sudden cardiac arrest”
“Medical findings… indicated that the victim suffered a sudden cardiac arrest,” Broto Happy, spokesperson for the Indonesian Badminton Federation (PBSI), later told a news conference in Yogyakarta.
The spokesperson defended the response conditions of medical staff and local organizers as footage showed what appeared to be a hesitant response to the teenager falling face-first on the pitch. He also explained that the medical teams had to wait for the referee to let them onto the field.
The young athlete’s parents were expected to travel to Yogyakarta to collect his body, he said. The Chinese Badminton Federation expressed its “deepest condolences to the parents and family” of the player.
Zhang Zhijie started playing badminton at an early age, in kindergarten, and joined the Chinese junior national team last year. Earlier this year, he won the singles title at the Dutch Junior International, a prestigious youth tournament played in Haarlem, the Netherlands.
Minute of silence and tribute
On Monday, a minute’s silence was observed during the team tournament which continues in Yogyakarta and the Chinese team wore black armbands.
Indian player Pusarla Venkata Sindhu, who won Olympic silver and bronze in 2016 and 2021 respectively, called Zhang’s death “absolutely heartbreaking.” “The world lost a remarkable talent today,” she wrote on the X network (formerly Twitter), offering “her deepest condolences” to the family of the young player.
2024-07-01 09:50:03
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