A 17-year-old Chinese badminton player has died after collapsing on the court during a match following a cardiac arrest at an Asian tournament in Indonesia, organizers said Monday.
“Chinese singles player Zhang Zhijie collapsed on the court during a match on Sunday evening,” the Badminton Confederation of Asia and the Badminton Federation of Indonesia (PBSI) said in a joint statement.
Zhang Zhijie fell ill while facing Japan’s Kazuma Kawano in the first set, 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 emergency ambulance in less than two minutes,” the statement said. The young player was “transported to hospital where he died at 11:20 p.m.” on Sunday (4:20 p.m. GMT), the statement said.
“Medical findings… indicated that the victim suffered sudden cardiac arrest,” Broto Happy, spokesperson for the Indonesian Badminton Federation (PBSI), later told a news conference in Yogyakarta.
The spokesman defended the response of medical staff and local organizers as footage showed what appeared to be a hesitant response to the teenager falling face down on the court. He also said medical teams had to wait for the referee to let them onto the court. 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 a young 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 held in Haarlem, the Netherlands.
On Monday, a minute of silence was observed at the team tournament that 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 has lost a remarkable talent today,” she wrote on the X network (formerly Twitter), offering “her deepest condolences” to the young player’s family.
2024-07-01 09:00:00
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