Badminton Asia set to commence

Badminton Asia

Even with the threat of the Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) outbreak, it remains all systems go for the 2020 Badminton Asia Team Championships this week at the historic Rizal Memorial Coliseum in Manila.

Both Badminton Asia and the Philippine Badminton Association have taken all measures needed to ensure the safety of the players and audience amidst the developing situation, highlighted by the non-postponement of the event.

PBA secretary-general Christopher Quimpo shares, "We can assure to the players and the Filipino people that their safety is put on a premium to ensure the world-class staging of this event."

He adds, "The world's best badminton players have been vocal in saying that they are ready to put on a show come the Asian Team Championships -- and this includes our national team who has been training hard for the past few months for this event."

Even with these measures, both the men's and women's teams of China and Hong Kong, as well as the women's team of India have opted to not participate in the biennial meet, which will prompt a redraw of the groupings on Monday, February 10, during the coaches' meeting at the nearby Century Park Hotel in Manila.

The men's division had both China and Hong Kong in Group B alongside Thailand, while in the women's division, Hong Kong was in Group W with Malaysia and Japan, while India was slotted alongside Korea and Kazakhstan in Group X.

The Badminton Asia Team Championships is backed by SMART Communications Inc., MVP Sports Foundation, Leisure and Resorts World Corporation, Cignal, and TV5.