Shuttlers scare as ceiling crashes at Vietnam Open

PETALING JAYA: Badminton players competing in the Vietnam Open GP in Ho Chi Minh City suffered a huge scare when a part of the ceiling in the stadium collapsed on Tuesday.

On the second day of the tournament, all three courts at the Phan Dinh Phung Stadium were being used. At about 5pm, the ceiling in the middle of the stadium came crashing down.

“Luckily everyone got out of the way in time,” said Malaysia’s Zulfadli Zulkiffli, who is seeded 12th at the tournament.

Play was halted and the competiton was moved to a new venue – the Tan Binh Stadium – on Wednesday afternoon.

Despite the interruption, professional shuttler Mohd Arif Abdul Latif became the first player to check into the third round.

Arif, the eighth seed, brushed aside Indonesia’s Hermansyah 21-13, 21-13 in the first round before beating Taiwan’s Yang Chih-chieh 21-17, 10-21, 21-16 in the second.

The world No. 59 will meet India’s Ajay Jayaram for a place in the quarter-finals.

Zulfadli, the 2011 world junior champion, and seven others – Badminton Association of Malaysia’s (BAM) Goh Soon Huat, Iskandar Zulkarnian Zainuddin, Nur Mohd Azriyn Ayub, Chong Yee Han and Tan Kian Meng and professionals Tan Chun Seang and Chiang Jiann Shiarng – all cleared their first round matches.