A promising 17-year-old Chinese player has died after collapsing on court during an international badminton tournament in Indonesia, sports authorities said Monday.
Zhang Zhijie collapsed on Sunday night while facing Japan’s Kazuma Kawano at the Asian Junior Tournament in Yogyakarta, Indonesia.
The match was 11-11 when Zhang suddenly fell to the ground.
A team arrived at the scene and transported the player to hospital by ambulance, but he died shortly afterwards.
“Chinese singles player Zhang Zhijie collapsed on court during a match,” Badminton Asia and the Badminton Association of Indonesia (PBSI) said in a joint statement.
“He was treated by the doctor and the tournament’s medical team. He was taken to the ambulance in less than two minutes and sent to the hospital,” he said.
“The badminton world has lost a talented player,” he added.
Later, PBSI spokesman Broto Happy told a news conference that “medical reports indicate that the victim suffered a sudden cardiac arrest.”
Happy also defended the intervention of the medical staff and tournament organisers, who were criticised after images of what happened were released and the alleged hesitant response when the player collapsed to the ground.
The spokesman said the medical teams had to wait for the referee to allow them onto the pitch.
The International Badminton Federation (IBF) said it was “saddened by the loss of emerging badminton talent Zhang Zhijie” and expressed its “condolences to his family, his teammates, the Chinese federation and the wider badminton community.”
2024-07-01 19:24:49
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