FANS, badminton associations and event organizers have expressed their condolences following the death of 17-year-old Chinese player Zhang Zhi Jie during the 2024 Badminton Asia Junior Championships in Yogyakarta on Sunday night (30/6).
Video footage of the tragic incident has gone viral. Reactions to Zhang’s death have become one of the top trending topics on social media platforms. Weibo with over 80,000 discussions and over 480 million views.
Zhang Zhi Jie’s older sister wrote a touching message. Weibo. He described Zhang as a very good child, and recounted how Zhang used his first bonus of the year to buy gifts for himself, his mother, his grandparents and his wife. Zhang was known for his great dedication to badminton.
“He is a very good boy. He gave all the bonuses he got for the first time this year to buy gifts for me, my mother and my grandparents. He is learning badminton very seriously. Yesterday he still shared a meal moment with his mother,” said the older brother in a screenshot of the post. Weibo which circulates in X.
He said Zhang’s death was due to the medical team’s slow response. “How can I accept this? I even think this is the worst result of the incompetent medical team and poor medical conditions,” he said.
According to BWF, this year is Zhang Zhi Jie’s best achievement at the junior championship level. He became the champion at the Yonex Dutch Junior International 2024 which took place in February on February 28-March 3 in Indonesia. In the final match, he won the title following winning a civil war once morest fellow Chinese representative, Hu Hze An.
Also read: Only 17 Years Old, Here Are Zhang Zhi Jie’s Achievements in the World of Badminton
A few days later, Zhang was runner-up at the YONEX German Junior 2024 on March 6-10. In the final match, he faced fellow Chinese representative, Wang Zi Jun.
Lu Xiao, a doctor at the Second Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University College of Medicine, said on Weibo that based on the video footage, Zhang may have been suffering from malignant arrhythmia.
He said a critical aspect of on-the-spot emergency care should have been to immediately perform CPR and use an automated external defibrillator, rather than carrying Zhang on a stretcher.
Also read: Profile of Zhang Zhi Jie who died during a match: China’s future badminton star
Quoted from the Indonesian Ministry of Health website, arrhythmia is a heart rhythm disorder in the form of an abnormal heartbeat, the rhythm can be irregular, too fast, or too slow, this condition occurs when the electrical impulses in the heart do not work properly.
Meanwhile, the Central Board of the Indonesian Badminton Association (PBSI) stated that it would write to the Badminton World Federation (BWF) regarding the standard operating procedure (SOP) for providing assistance to athletes in emergency situations following the death of Zhang Zhi Jie.
PBSI Organizing Committee’s Public Relations and Media Broto Happy, during a press conference at the KONI DIY Office, Yogyakarta, Monday (1/7), stated that based on the current SOP, the medical team must wait for a call from the referee to provide assistance to athletes.
Also read: Chinese Athlete Zhang Zhi Jie Dies Due to Heart Attack, Why Did This Happen?
Broto explained that in Zhi Jie’s case, the medical team and tournament doctor were only allowed to enter the field to provide first aid to Zhi Jie following receiving a call from the referee.
Zhi Jie, at that time, experienced a sudden collapse while competing once morest Kazuma Kawano from Japan in the final match of the 2024 Badminton Asia Junior Championships group stage, Sunday (30/6) night.
“This is a regulation or rule according to the SOP that applies in every international badminton tournament from BWF and Badminton Asia,” he said.
“PBSI will bring this case to BWF for the sake of the good and safety of athletes in the future,” said Broto. (Chinadaily/Ant/P-5)
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