Regarding All England, the World Badminton Federation apologizes to Indonesia
President of the Badminton World Federation (BWF) Poul-Erik Hoyer Larsen sent a letter of apology to the President of Indonesia, Joko Widodo regarding the incident that befell the Indonesian contingent at the All England 2021 event.
Previously, for those who did not know, the Indonesian Team representing the State at the prestigious All England 2021 event was indeed forced to withdraw from the tournament, because it had to undergo self-quarantine after it was discovered that there was one plane with a person who was positive for Covid-19.
BWF’s decision to expel the Indonesian Contingent from All England in 2021 has drawn protests, not only from badminton athletes, but also from the Indonesian people. They consider BWF to commit acts of discrimination and also harm their contingent.
In fact, Indonesian netizens have also continuously attacked BWF’s Social Media accounts every day since the 2021 All England tournament was held, most of them demanding justice for the Indonesian contingent who was forced to resign.
Understanding the impact this presented, BWF itself through President Larsen finally sent a letter containing an apology to President Joko Widodo.
This news was confirmed by the Minister of Youth and Sports, Zainudin Amali. In essence, in the letter, Larsen on behalf of BWF apologized for the incident that befell Indonesian contestants.
“The President of BWF apologizes to the President, to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, to us, PBSI, and badminton stakeholders in the country,”
“He also acknowledged that Indonesia is a big country for badminton which has become our icon of pride on the world stage.” said the Menpora.
The Menpora also personally hopes that the BWF will take this as a lesson so that they can be better prepared to hold badminton tournaments in the midst of a pandemic like now, so that the same incident will not be repeated in the future.
“In the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, BWF admits that in the future we must be more prepared to prepare ourselves. The incident in All England 2021 is a valuable lesson that will not be repeated in the future,” he explained.
Meanwhile, Indonesian badminton athletes have arrived in Indonesia since Monday (22/03) after undergoing quarantine for several days.