The Wuhan coronavirus outbreak in China and a surge in cases in other Asian countries are affecting the scheduling of sporting events in the continent.
Several sporting events have been either been postponed or moved to another country outside Asia and if the outbreak continues to escalate, it could affect the hopes of Asian athletes of qualifying for the Tokyo Olympics, which could also be moved out of the Land of the Rising Sun if the situation does not improve.
On Saturday, the Badminton World Federation (BWF) postponed the China Masters, an Olympic qualifying event, which was supposed to be held on Feb 24-Mar 1 in Fuzhou.
It will now likely be held in May, which will be outside the Olympic qualifying period.
BWF are now monitoring the situation in countries where coronavirus cases have been reported.
The Asia Team Championships, an Olympic qualifier and also a qualifying event for the Thomas Cup and Uber Cup, in Manila, is in danger of suffering a similar fate.
Shuttlers are worried as one death from coronavirus has been reported in the Philippines, the first confirmed fatality outside China.
Up to Saturday, more than 300 people have died from coronavirus with 14,300 confirmed cases so far.
BA of Malaysia (BAM) secretary-general Kenny Goh said, for now, there are no plans to withdraw the national team from the Asia Team meet.
“Badminton Asia (BA) are monitoring the situation with the organisers of the Asia Team event. We will be working together with BA.
“We will adhere to whatever decision made by BA on the status of the tournament.
“For now, the shuttlers are training hard ahead of the tournament,” said Kenny.
The top four teams in the men and women’s categories in Manila will qualify for the Thomas/Uber Cups in Aarhus, Denmark on May 16-24.
The men’s team are in Group C with Taiwan and Singapore while the women’s team have been drawn in Group W with Japan and Hong Kong.