Asian badminton pushing through

MANILA, Philippines — The 2020 Badminton Asia Manila Team Championship will push through as scheduled amid the growing novel coronavirus scare.

The six-day event unfolds tomorrow at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum, and is set to hold a re-draw of lots today following the withdrawal of China and Hong Kong, which could not send a team due to the deadly outbreak.

The women’s team from India also withdrew.

“We can assure all the players and the Filipino people that their safety is put on a premium to ensure the world-class staging of this event,” said Philippine Badminton Association secretary-general Christopher Quimpo yesterday.

“The world’s best badminton players have been vocal in saying that they are ready to put on a show come the Asian Team Championships – and this includes our national team, which has been training hard for the past few months for this event,” said Quimpo.

Some local and international events, including the Philippine Sports Commission’s Philippine National Games, the national sports summit and Children’s Games have been affected by the outbreak.

The re-draw is slated today at the Century Park Hotel in Manila.

Originally, China and Hong Kong were bracketed in Group B in the men’s division, together with Thailand in this meet backed by SMART Communications Inc., MVP Sports Foundation, Leisure and Resorts World Corp., Cignal and TV5.