Philippine travel ban to impact Asian team event?

With the government of the Philippines having banned foreigners from entering the country from China and Hong Kong, the participation of four key teams remains in doubt for next week’s Badminton Asia Team Championships in Manila.

In a press release Sunday, Philippines Bureau of Immigration (BI) Commissioner Jaime Morente announced, “We have immediately implemented the expanded travel ban, hence all foreign nationals, regardless of their nationality, who will be coming from China and its Special Administrative Regions shall be turned back and not allowed to enter the Philippines.”

The move came in the wake of the report of the first death, outside of China, of a victim of the novel coronavirus 2019-nCoV.  The 44-year-old man reportedly died in Manila on Saturday after arriving in the Philippines from Wuhan on January 21st.

The Badminton World Federation (BWF) issued a statement on Tuesday that acknowledged there could be implications to these travel restrictions for the ease of movement of players and officials from China.  The BWF statement read: “Chinese athletes are free to enter events and we trust tournament hosts will provide full assistance and treat all athletes from all Member Associations equally.”

However, the authority of the government of the Philippines is of course far beyond the influence of the BWF or the Badminton Asia Confederation, which is the organizer of the Badminton Asia Team Championships.  These men’s and women’s team championships, scheduled to be held in Manila’s Rizal Memorial Coliseum from February 11th to 16th, is the continent’s qualifying event for the Thomas & Uber Cups.  The men’s event in particular features one preliminary round group with both China and Hong Kong in a group of three, along with Thailand.

In addition to teams seeking the titles and looking to qualify for the Thomas & Uber Cup Finals in May, the continental team events are also a valuable opportunity for second-string players to earn points toward the Tokyo Olympic Games.  Among those with the most to gain from playing in Manila could be Hong Kong’s Lee Cheuk Yiu (pictured) and Lu Guangzu of China, both of whom need to be in the world’s top 16 to even be eligible for the Tokyo Olympics.

At the time of writing, there had been no official statement from Badminton Asia, or from the national associations of the Philippines, Hong Kong, or China.

Photo: Badmintonphoto