PETALING JAYA: The All-Indonesia Badminton Association (PBSI) will propose to the Badminton World Federation (BWF) to re-look into the medical team’s Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) in giving emergency help for players during tournaments.
This was announced at the press conference conducted by PBSI after the death of China’s Zhang Zhijie during the Asian Junior Championships in Yogyakarta.
Badminton Asia chief operating officer Chooi Weng Sheng said Indonesia’s governing body did an excellent job to try and save the life of Dutch Junior International champion Zhijie after he collapsed midway through his match against Japan’s Kazuma Kazano on Sunday.
They, however, had their limitations.
According to the BWF rule, the medical teams had to wait for the referee to let them on the court.
“The PBSI did their best to help Zhijie and I commend them for their swift action. Their officials were even in the ambulance with the player and tried to assist in every way until the end,” said Weng Sheng.
“It’s a sad day for us to lose a player in this way.
“PBSI, however, said they will be asking for BWF to look into the procedure of the medical team, maybe, one or two steps can be dropped in exceptional situations.”
PBSI spokesman Broto Happy said the victim had experienced sudden cardiac arrest.
China Badminton Association (CBA) said they were “deeply saddened”.
“Zhang Zhijie loved badminton and was an outstanding athlete of the national youth badminton team,” the CBA said in a statement.
The team tournament held a moment of silence yesterday and the Chinese team wore black armbands as a mark of respect before the knockout competition started.
China beat Taiwan 3-0 in the quarter-finals and an hour later, they returned to court to beat Malaysia 3-1 in the semi-finals.
