TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Youth and Sports Minister Zainudin Amali on Thursday responded to the sudden withdrawal of the Indonesian badminton team from the All England 2021. He believes that the Indonesian athletes are bearing the consequences from health protocol mistakes committed by the BWF as the organizers.

“The organizers and BWF should have been able to view this more objectively and not generalize it,” said Amali in the press conference held in Jakarta on March 18.

He said that the ministry was informed that there was another athlete boarding the same plane as the Indonesian athletes but was allowed to continue to compete in the All England and said that it was unfair to only enforce the 10-day quarantine on Indonesian athletes.

The badminton player, he believed, who allegedly took same flight as the Indonesian team was Turkish athlete Neslihan Yigit. This was confirmed by the Indonesian Badminton Association (PBSI) which has reported their finding to the All England organizers. Currently, Yigit is still allowed to progress in the championship.

“Another aspect I would like to say to is the air carrier that had implemented a strict [health screening] system for passengers but turned out there was one who was indicated to carry Covid-19,” said the Youth and Sports Minister.

Read: BWF: Covid Tracing Withdraws Indonesia from All England 2021

IRSYAN HASYIM (CONTRIBUTOR)