KUALA LUMPUR: Covid-19 has once again reared its ugly head, but it will not stop Badminton Asia from pushing ahead with the Badminton Asia Team Championships (BATC) in Shah Alam on Feb 15-20.
It is now confirmed that both Thailand, who will host the 2022 Thomas and Uber Cup Finals in May, and Taiwan will not be sending their teams for the BATC due to Covid-19 related concerns.
Earlier, organisers had confirmed that China will not be sending their teams either due to strict lockdowns in their country.
As a result, only eight teams - Hong Kong, India, Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, Singapore, Kazakhstan and Malaysia - will compete in this year's edition, which also serves as a qualifier for the Thomas and Uber Cup Finals.
The semi-finallists from both the men's and women's events will qualify automatically for the world team events in Bangkok.
At the previous BATC in Manila, the Malaysian men's team reach the final before losing 3-1 to Indonesia, while the women's team outdid themselves by reaching the last-four stage before losing 3-0 to eventual champions Japan.
The BATC, which will take place at the Setia City Convention centre, will be the first international sporting event to be hosted in Malaysia since the country first closed its borders for the first Movement Control Order (MCO) in March 2020.