JAKARTA, Dec 9 (NNN-ANTARA) – The Indonesian Badminton Association (PBSI), has withdrawn its participation from the BWF Championship 2021, for fear of the spread of the Omicron coronavirus variant, an official said yesterday.
The badminton tournament is scheduled to take place in Huelva, Spain, from Dec12-19.
PBSI’s Executive Chairman, Alex Tirta, said in a press release that, the decision not to send any players to the event was directly made by PBSI’s General Chairman, Agung Firman Sampurna, after a long discussion with all coaches and PBSI’s Development and Achievement Head, Rionny Mainaky.
“The main reason of the withdrawal is because the spread of the Omicron coronavirus variant is still uncertain, while the safety and health of our players should come first,” Tirta said.
Previously, PBSI planned to send 13 top-ranked badminton players, including Anthony Sinisuka Ginting, Jonatan Christie, Marcus Fernaldi Gideon and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo, to the BWF Championship 2021.
“We do not want to take any risk. We have also discussed this decision with all players and they have agreed not to participate,” he added.
Alex also said that the decision was in line with the government’s instruction, to restrict international travel as an effort to prevent the spread of the virus.
As of Tuesday, Indonesia confirmed 261 new COVID-19 cases, raising its tally of infections to 4,258,076, according to data from the country’s Health Ministry.
The death toll from the virus rose by 17 to 143,893, while 420 more people recovered during the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of recoveries to 4,108,717.– NNN-ANTARA
