China Withdraws all Players from Japan Open

China has withdrawn all its badminton players from this week’s Japan Open, citing safety fears as territorial dispute between the two countries continues.

The withdrawal leaves the Tokyo-based tournament without some of the sport’s biggest names.

“The BWF can confirm the Chinese contingent has withdrawn from the Japan Open,” Thomas Lund, the Badminton World Federation’s chief operating officer, said. “It is unfortunate but the tournament will go on,” he added.

An official of the Table Tennis and Badminton Centre of China’s central sporting administration said: “We’ve quit the Japan Open.”

“The decision was to ensure players’ safety… so considering the intense China-Japan relations these days, we quit.”

A Japanese spokesman for the tournament said China informed the BWF on September 14 that 22 players would not be competing.

The Japan Open began on Tuesday and ends on Sunday with the BWF re-drawing the men’s singles, women’s singles and men’s doubles ties after the announcement.

China and Japan are involved in an escalating territorial dispute over a small island chain in the East China Sea.{jcomments on}