Indonesian Team Is Forced To Withdraw From All England 2021, Marcus Gideon: BWF Has Failed, They Should Implement A Bubble System

Marcus Gideon (right) (Photo: Antara)

JAKARTA - The Indonesian national badminton team simultaneously protested and urged the Badminton World Federation (BWF) to act fairly after they were forced to withdraw from All England in 2021.

This was first known from the post of Indonesian men's doubles Marcus Fernaldi Gideon via his personal Instagram account, @marcusfernadig, Thursday.

He said the withdrawal was made after the discovery of a positive case of COVID-19 in one of the plane passengers on a flight with the Indonesian team.

"We were shocked to hear the news that we (Indonesian players and officials) had to withdraw from All England because an anonymous passenger tested positive on the same flight as us", wrote Marcus.

"BWF has failed to address this issue ... BWF should have implemented a bubble system to ensure the safety of the players".

The same thing was also conveyed by Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo, Mohammad Ahsan, Hendra Setiawan, and Melati Daeva Oktavinati and Greysia Polii, Apriyani Rahayu through their Instagram accounts. They asked BWF as the highest federation to be responsible for this incident.

Meanwhile, another men's doubles, Fajar Alfian, said that BWF's decision to withdraw all Indonesian players was very unfair.

This is because the COVID-19 case also emerged one day before the implementation of the All England which was held on Wednesday, March 17, which caused the tournament's opening match to be delayed by five hours. Several athletes and coaches from India, Thailand, and Denmark have tested positive for COVID-19.

BWF immediately retested the athletes and coaches. Approximately 13 hours before the opening match, the committee announced that the initial match which was originally scheduled to start at 16.00 p.m. local time was postponed to 21.00 p.m. local time while waiting for retest results on infected athletes.

But in the end, the team that tested negative was allowed to play.

Meanwhile, the Indonesian team that had tested negative that day immediately underwent training, both at the gym and the field.

Several Indonesian representatives had already competed in the first round of the All England 2021. Marcus/Kevin, Hendra/Ahsan, and Jonatan Christie made it to the round of 16.

BWF has yet to give an official statement regarding the withdrawal of the Indonesian team from All England in 2021.