The complete Indonesian team has been withdrawn from the ongoing All England Open Badminton tournament at the end of the first day of the competition, which has been affected by coronavirus scares.
News broke late on the first day at Arena Birmingham that a number of Indonesian players and team members had been contacted by the UK Government’s National Health Service (NHS) Test and Trace service and were required to self-isolate with immediate effect.
The entire team will now self-isolate for ten days and as a result all of their players have been withdrawn from the event.
All results from the first day of play will stand and any scheduled opponents in future rounds will receive walkovers.
On a dramatic day off the court, the start of play was delayed by five hours until 2pm local time after what organisers called “a significant number” of inconclusive COVID-19 tests and some positives.
The delay was to allow an investigation into the testing and laboratory process to be conducted in consultation with representatives from Public Health England and the private testing companies involved.
The Badminton World Federation (BWF) said it had concluded that all COVID-19 test results were negative, meaning the tournament could start with a full complement of players.
The BWF said earlier in the day an ongoing review of testing processes would continue with players, team entourage, officials and event crew set to undergo further testing as the tournament proceeds.
The delay to the start of play meant a long opening day at the Championships, with matches continuing past midnight local time on some courts to keep the tournament on schedule.