JAKARTA - Indonesian men's doubles player Hendra Setiawan talked about his experience of having to walk home from the tournament to the hotel when he was declared to have to withdraw from All England 2021, Wednesday, March 17 evening, Birmingham, England.
"Yesterday after playing, suddenly we were told to go home, and had to walk to the hotel, so we were surprised," Hendra said in a video upload on a Youtube account reported by Antara, Thursday, March 18.
Hendra / Ahsan won against the British pair. Several other Indonesian representatives have also competed in the first round of the All England 2021, namely Marcus Fernaldi Gideon / Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo and Jonatan Christie, and managed to advance to the last 16.
All members of the Indonesian badminton team, both athletes, coaches and officials, were forced to resign due to the COVID-19 health protocol so they could not continue the match.
The Indonesian badminton team departed for Birmingham on Friday, March 12 at 21.40 WIB using a Turkish Airlines plane with logging number TK57 and landed the next day Saturday, March 13, local time.
According to Indonesian Team Manager Ricky Soebagdja, during a flight from Istanbul to Birmingham on Saturday March 13, there was one passenger who tested positive for COVID-19.
"So we can't play because there are positive ones on the plane, so it's considered close contact. But, it should be Saturday, it's Wednesday," said Hendra.
"In Jakarta we have had the vaccine twice, then we took the plane and the PCR swab was okay, negative, then we got the swab again, negative, so it should be okay," he continued.
In accordance with British government regulations, if you are on the same plane with a person who is positive for COVID-19, all team members are required to undergo isolation for 10 days. Hendra regretted that the World Badminton Federation (BWF) did not provide information regarding these rules.
"The problem is that BWF should tell you if there is a regulation like this, maybe a week or 10 days before you have to get here, now we don't know," he said.
Moreover, according to Hendra, not all athletes get emails from the UK's National Health Service (NHS) health service program, which is tasked with conducting contact tracing or tracing COVID-19.
Hendra said Ahsan and three other people did not get email tracing, which means that the four people are safe.
"Even though we all have one plane and sit together too. It's a bit unclear, you know," said Hendra.
Hendra also said that he should not retest COVID-19 because he was considered to be in close contact with a COVID-19 sufferer, so he had to be isolated for 10 days. "Even though yesterday there were positive ones but they could be retested, and that too was the test itself, self-testing," continued Hendra.
One day before the implementation of the All England 2021, a COVID-19 case appeared which caused the tournament opening match to be postponed. Several athletes and coaches from India, Thailand and Denmark have tested positive for COVID-19.
At that time, BWF immediately retested the athletes and coaches. The team that tested negative was also allowed to appear.
"For example, you can't even play, so at least you can't go home, you know. What are you doing here, especially for both of us (Ahsan) wasting time, wasting money too, we're also at our own expense, haven't reached Jakarta isolation again," said Hendra. Hendra also expressed his gratitude to all Indonesian people who have supported him.
"We'll just wait for the decision, hopefully it can satisfy us all, okay? Stay excited!"
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