On the afternoon of March 22, the BWF posted an official statement on its official social media, which read, "The BWF confirmed today that a number of players have withdrawn from the 2022 Yonex Swiss Open due to the coronavirus infection. Multiple players from multiple associations tested positive before and after arrival and were forced to withdraw from the tournament. The Chinese Badminton Association reported a number of positive test results, as well as player injuries. Out of consideration for the health of all participating players, the Chinese team decided to withdraw from the 2022 Yonex Swiss Open as a whole. ”
Subsequently, the news was confirmed by the Chinese Badminton Association, and the official microblog of the Chinese badminton team posted that "the Swiss Open Badminton Championships started today, and in the routine nucleic acid test before the start, some athletes of the Chinese badminton team tested positive." In order to protect the health of athletes, the Chinese Badminton Association decided that the Chinese badminton team would collectively withdraw from the Swiss Open Badminton Championships. ”
According to the original arrangement, after competing in the German Open badminton championships and the All England Open badminton championships, the Chinese badminton team immediately switched to participate in the Swiss Open Badminton Championships held from March 22 to 27 local time. As for the contestants, Kuniyu has also been arranged for a long time.
Chinese badminton team Switzerland Badminton Tournament participant list
Men's Singles: Lu Guangzu, Zhao Junpeng, Li Shifeng
Women's Singles: Chen Yufei, He Bingjiao, Wang Zhiyi, Han Yue, Zhang Yiman
Men's Doubles: Ou Xuanyi / Liu Yuchen, Zhou Haodong / He Jiting, Zhang Nan / Liu Cheng, Tan Qiang / Ren Xiangyu
Women's Doubles: Chen Qingchen / Jia Yifan, Liu Xuanxuan / Xia Yuting, Zheng Yu / Zhang Shuxian
Mixed Doubles: Wang Yilu / Huang Dongping, Zheng Siwei / Zhang Shuxian, Ou Xuanyi / Huang Yaqiong
However, with the withdrawal of the national badminton from the Swiss Open Badminton Championships, according to the official saying of the BWF, "some players and combinations have thus advanced to the main tournament". According to the China Youth Daily, the current epidemic prevention policy in Europe has weakened, especially the United Kingdom has been fully liberalized. The participation process, on-site operation and on-site audience size of the All England Open are almost the same as before the epidemic. As you can see from the TV broadcast of the All England Open, the Birmingham Stadium on the last two days of the competition is almost full, and few people wear masks. In such a big environment, the team is facing huge epidemic prevention pressure during the competition and the journey.
According to the latest report from the Guardian, covid-19 cases in the UK have surged again in the past week, and statistics from the UK's National Health System (NHS) show that in England alone, more than 5% of people are currently infected with COVID-19, and the UK healthcare system is under great pressure. On the other hand, the All England Badminton Tournament was held in Birmingham, where the epidemic was more severe, and on the field, athletes from Indonesia, Denmark and other countries took photos with the audience without masks.
Zhang Jun, chairman of the Chinese Badminton Association, said in an interview with the China Youth Daily reporter that after withdrawing from the Swiss Open, the Chinese team will first rest and recover in basel, Switzerland, where the competition is played. After that, some players will travel to South Korea to participate in the Korea Open and Korea Masters in April, while those without a game mission will go to the training camp in Chiang Mai, Thailand, and enter the preparation rhythm of the Tangyou Cup in May. At that time, some coaches and athletes who are currently training in China will also depart for Thailand to meet with the big troops to prepare for the Tangyou Cup.
The Training Camp in Chiang Mai, Thailand, mentioned by Zhang Jun, is an overseas transit station established by Guoyu and a new exploration for the Chinese badminton team to deal with foreign competitions during the special period of the epidemic. Remember that after the Tokyo Olympics in August last year, Guoyu returned to China and quarantined for 21 days, and then rushed to Xi'an to participate in the Shaanxi National Games, without too many adjustments, Guoyu went to Finland to participate in the Sudirman Cup, and then went to Denmark to compete in the Tangyou Cup, and after returning to China, the team members experienced 21 days of isolation again. In December last year, Guoyu went to Spain to participate in the World Championships in Huelva, and after returning home, everyone experienced the third quarantine in six months.
This year, things have changed, and the BWF has fully resumed all competitions, with monthly competitions. After experiencing a series of major competitions such as the Tokyo Olympic Games, sudirman cup, Tangyou Cup, and world championships, the Chinese badminton team for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games has made personnel adjustments, and a large number of new people and new combinations have emerged in the team, who urgently need to earn points by participating in the open tournament in order to participate in next year's Olympic points competition with a better points situation. Zhang Jun, chairman of the China Badminton Association, said in an interview with Xinhua News Agency: "I hope that by the end of this year, we will have at least 3 to 4 people or combinations in the five individual events to enter the top 30 in the world." This way, we will have more players competing for Olympic seats when the Olympic points race starts on May 1, 2023. ”
In view of the current differences in epidemic prevention policies at home and abroad, after the national team members participate in the foreign competition, if they choose to return to their home countries, they must be quarantined for a long time, and the rhythm of continuous participation will be interrupted. In order to ensure that the team members can continue to compete overseas, Kuniwa set up an overseas training camp in Chiang Mai, Thailand. The reason why the training camp was set up in Chiang Mai, Kuniyu also had its own considerations. The Toyu Cup was held in Bangkok, Thailand in May, followed by the Thai Open, the Indonesian Open, the Malaysian Open, the Singapore Open, and the Tokyo World Championships, chiang mai, as a transit place for national feathers, has obvious geographical advantages and similar climatic conditions to the participating places. When the players are competing outside, the logistics support team of the Chinese badminton team will also transport relevant items and supplies to Chiang Mai according to the needs of the team, so as to relieve the worries of the national badminton players who have been competing overseas for a long time.
Of course, for Guoyu, in the context of the epidemic, long-term overseas training and competition is a certain risk, even if everyone attaches great importance to epidemic prevention work, but the international epidemic situation is more complicated, and the team members are infected with the new crown. In February this year, the Chinese women's basketball team went to Belgrade to participate in the World Preliminary Tournament, and as a result, many people were infected with the new crown, and the team had to wait until the nucleic acid test of all the staff turned negative, until March 12, before returning to China, and then transferred to the "14+7" isolation.
The same example is the Beijing Guoan team that went to Tashkent to participate in the AFC Champions League in June last year, and as a result, when they finished the tournament and prepared to return to China, some of the personnel tested positive for nucleic acid, and the Guoan and his party could not return as scheduled, and finally had to return to China in batches, and the last batch of personnel did not return to Beijing until November 22 last year, and this day was exactly 158 days after they went to the AFC Champions League.
In the face of the home-and-away round of 12 matches, considering the epidemic prevention factors, the Chinese men's football team had no choice but to give up its home stadium and put its home stadium in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, although it lost the home bonus, the national football team could at least ensure a smooth completion.
Under the epidemic situation, it is an unavoidable topic for Chinese sports teams and individual athletes to participate in overseas competitions. The differences in domestic epidemic prevention policies objectively exist, and the risk of being infected with the new crown in foreign competitions is also objective. How to find a balance between the two, Guoyu's practice of setting up a transit station in Chiang Mai, Thailand, can be said to be an attempt, while Chinese athletes compete overseas to strive for good results on the field, but also go all out to fight the epidemic prevention and control war off the field.