By TAKESHI TERUYA/ Staff Writer
March 9, 2020 at 15:15 JST
The national badminton team leaves Haneda Airport for an extended tour abroad on March 8. (Takeshi Teruya)
The Nippon Badminton Association has effectively banned the national team from returning to Japan for nearly two months to ensure that coronavirus-related travel restrictions do not dash the players’ Olympic dreams.
The team left Haneda Airport on March 8 for the All England Open Badminton Championships 2020 that starts on March 11.
After that tournament, the players will continue to stay in Britain for one week and then fly out for competitions in Malaysia, India, Singapore and other countries.
They are scheduled to finally return to Japan by the end of April.
Badminton players are accustomed to spending about three weeks abroad for competitions. But this will be the first time the team will remain outside of Japan for 50 straight days.
Novel coronavirus infections continue to spread, and some countries are already refusing entry to travelers from Japan.
The players are competing in Olympic trial competitions for points to secure slots on the Olympic team and represent Japan at the Summer Games in Tokyo.
The association was worried that if the players returned to Japan and additional overseas travel restrictions were imposed, they might not be able to join the trials abroad.
Since Japan is obviously not the only country affected by the outbreak, the association is providing face masks to players and checking their body temperatures daily.
The association is also considering changing the team’s overseas accommodation arrangements, switching from the usual twin rooms to single ones.
The players said it took much more time and energy to get ready for the prolonged tour abroad.
“In Britain and Malaysia, the environments are totally different, so it’s difficult to prepare,” said Nozomi Okuhara, a women’s singles player. “But I believe that everything will work out in the end.”
Takeshi Kamura, a men’s doubles player, appeared particularly concerned about what he would eat overseas.
He packed retort food and ingredients for hot pot dishes.
“I brought a lot of extra things,” he said. “They were nearly over the weight limit.”
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