A 17-year-old Chinese badminton player died after collapsing on the court during an international tournament in Indonesia, authorities said on Monday, mourning him for being “excellent” and “talented”. Zhang Zhijie fell ill suddenly during a match on Sunday against Japan’s Kazuma Kawano at the Asian Junior Championships in Yogyakarta. The score was 11-11 in the first game when Zhang fell to the ground. He received treatment at the scene and was taken to hospital by ambulance, but died after efforts to resuscitate him failed.
The cause of death was not immediately known.
“China’s Zhang Zhijie, a singles player, collapsed on the court during an evening match,” Badminton Asia and the Badminton Association of Indonesia (PBSI) said in a joint statement on Monday.
“He was taken to hospital where he passed away at 11:20pm local time yesterday.
“He was attended to by the tournament doctor and the medical team. He was taken away in the ready ambulance in less than two minutes and taken to the hospital.
“The world of badminton has lost a talented player,” the statement added.
Zhang started playing badminton in kindergarten and joined China’s national youth team last year.
Earlier this year, he won the singles title at the Dutch Junior International, a prestigious youth tournament.
China’s badminton association said it was “deeply saddened.”
“Zhang Zhijie loved badminton and was an excellent athlete on the national youth badminton team,” the CBA said in a statement.
He added: “Currently, the local hospital has not yet identified the cause of death.”
The team tournament in the city of Yogyakarta held a moment of silence on Monday and the Chinese team wore black armbands as a sign of respect.
India’s PV Sindhu, who won Olympic silver and bronze, called Zhang’s death “absolutely heartbreaking.”
“I extend my deepest condolences to Zhang’s family during this devastating time,” Sindhu, who was not at the tournament, wrote on X.
“The world has lost a remarkable talent today.”
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Topics mentioned in this article
This story originally appeared on ndtv.com read the full story
