The national basketball governing body (CTBA) yesterday said that it would decide in the first half of next month whether it would hold the William Jones Cup this year.
The CTBA has staged the invitational tournament since 1977 and had planned to hold this year’s competition next month, but it was postponed until the end of August amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
On Tuesday last week, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) approved the national badminton association’s plan to host the Taipei Open on Sept. 1, with one requirement being that all athletes from abroad provide documentation that shows they tested negative for the virus in a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) screening within three days of arriving in Taiwan.
They would be taken to designated hotels for a mandatory five-day quarantine, after which they would undergo another COVID-19 test, the CECC said.
Athletes would not be allowed to compete if they test positive, it said.
After the tournament, foreign athletes would be screened again and would only be allowed to leave immediately if they test negative, it said.
“The disease prevention measures that the CECC suggested for the badminton association would be extremely difficult to implement for the Jones Cup,” CTBA secretary-general Lee Yi-chung (李一中) said.
Unlike the Taipei Open, which is hosted by the Badminton World Federation, the Jones Cup is an invitational tournament and the association has to pay for the expenses, Lee said, adding that it would not be able to afford to have every member of each visiting teams undergo PCR screening.
Moreover, ticket sales might be affected if there is not enough international participation at the tournament, he said.
“We are seriously considering whether we should proceed with the tournament,” Lee said.
The CTBA this week is to submit its disease prevention plan for the tournament, Lee said, adding that it would make a decision on the tournament by the middle of next month.
The association has canceled the Jones Cup twice previously — in 1989 after a fire destroyed the Chunghwa Sports Stadium and in 2003 due to the SARS outbreak.
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