KUALA LUMPUR: Our shuttlers are all set for the German Open next week, but due to the coronavirus outbreak, the event will not be held.
This is the situation that they have found themselves in after stopping in Paris for a training stint before heading to the German Open next week.
The players in Paris are Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik, Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin Rumsani (men's doubles), Chow Mei Kuan-Lee Meng Yean, Vivian Hoo-Yap Chen Wen (women's doubles), Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai, Tan Kian Meng-Lai Pei Jing (mixed doubles).
Today, the German BA announced the cancellation of the German Open (March 3-8) due to the Covid-19 outbreak.
Just hours ago, the city of Mülheim an der Ruhr posted on their Facebook page: "After medical advice and a weighing process, we cancel the event for the planned period.
"At this event, around 250 players and up to 7,000 visitors from all over the world are always expected.
"Due to the current situation, the health office of Mülheim has made the recommendation to cancel the event and postpone it to a later date. We followed the recommendation."
The announcement came a day after the Badminton World Federation (BWF) issued a statement on the postponement of the Vietnam International Challenge, which was due to take place on March 24-29.
Earlier this month, BWF also confirmed the postponement of the Lingshui China Masters because of the outbreak that has since killed more than 2,700 people and infected more than 79,000 others.
"It is unfortunate that this has to happen. We will need to re-plan, perhaps extending the training in France, but we will need to assess the overall situation," Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) secretary general, Datuk Kenny Goh said when contacted.
Cancellation of these events only makes things more difficult for players who are scrambling to collect Olympic qualifying points before the end of the one-year qualifying period in April.
It also does not bode well, with increasing talks of the Tokyo Olympics in July being cancelled.