The forced withdrawal of the Indonesian team from the 2021 All England has been met with disappointment from all sides, especially the players whose long preparations have gone wasted. Almost everyone in the Indonesian camp voiced their disappointment on social media.
Anthony Sinisuka has been devastated by his forced withdrawal from the prestigious tournament. He called out BWF demanding the establishment of a standard Covid-19 by-law which includes “the health protocols of the different countries” where the tournaments are held.
The health protocols followed at the All England championships are different from those which were in place in the tournaments in Thailand (January). In Thailand, the players were required to stay in quarantine for two weeks, while in Birmingham, no quarantine was required. Most of the participating teams including the Indonesian team reached Birmingham on Saturday or Sunday, just 3 days before the tournament.
The situation might have been avoided if a quarantine period of at least 10 days was made mandatory (as required by the NHS, Govt of UK).
In his post on social media, Ginting questioned BWF by stating, “We definitely want to help BWF to keep the badminton tournaments going. But what if something like this happens again?
“There are many big tournaments ahead, there are the Olympics, Thomas and Uber Cup, Sudirman Cup and many others. It is not funny if something like this happens in the future again.”
