KUALA LUMPUR – Seventeen-year-old Chinese badminton player, Zhang Zhijie, died in hospital after collapsing during a match at the 2024 Asian Junior Badminton Championships currently taking place in Yogyakarta, Indonesia.
He died last night at around 11.30pm local time after collapsing during the third match yesterday between China and Japan.
The score was 11-11, when Zhang, who was playing Kazuma Kawano of Japan, collapsed mid-court and began convulsing.
Medical aid was given before the singles player was rushed to hospital.
Tournament organisers, Badminton Asia and the Badminton Association of Indonesia in a joint statement, confirmed Zhang’s death and conveyed their condolences to the player’s family and to the Chinese Badminton Association.
“Zhang Zhijie, a singles player, collapsed on the court during the evening match. He was rushed to the hospital and died at 23:20 local time yesterday,” the joint statement said.
The Asian Junior Badminton Championships are being held at GOR Among Raga, Yogyakarta, from June 28-July 2 for the mixed team category. The competition will continue with the individual category from July 3-7.
According to BadmintonPlanet.com, Zhang, who was born in January 2007 in Jiaxing, was selected for the China national youth team in 2023 and was a rising badminton star after winning the boys’ singles title at the 2024 Dutch Junior International earlier this year. – July 1, 2024