17-year-old Chinese badminton player tragically dies after collapsing on court during junior series

On Monday, a major tragedy has occurred at a Badminton court. A 17-year-old Chinese Badminton player has collapsed and died while playing during an international event in Indonesia. Labelled as outstanding and talented, Zhang Zhijie, suddenly fell unconscious on the ground and died. The incident took place when the score was 11-11. Zhang was playing against Japan's Kazuma Kawano at the Asia Junior Championships in Yogyakarta.

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Chinese Badminton player Zhang Zhijie dies while playing an event in Indonesia

The cause of death was not immediately known.

“China’s Zhang Zhijie, a singles player, collapsed on the court during a match in the evening,” Badminton Asia and the Badminton Association of Indonesia (PBSI) said in a joint statement on Monday.

“He was sent to the hospital where he passed away at 23:20 local time yesterday.

“He was attended to by the tournament doctor and medical team. He was taken in the standby ambulance in less than two minutes and sent to hospital.

“The world of badminton has lost a talented player,” the statement added.

Zhang started playing badminton when he was in kindergarten and made it to China’s national youth team just last year.

China’s badminton association said that it was “deeply saddened”.

“Zhang Zhijie loved badminton and was an outstanding athlete of the national youth badminton team,” the CBA said in a statement.

It added: “At present the local hospital has not yet identified the cause of death.”

The team tournament held a moment’s silence on Monday and the Chinese team wore black armbands as a mark of respect.

India's badminton ace, PV Sindhu, described Zhang’s death “absolutely heartbreaking”.

“I offer my deepest condolences to Zhang’s family during this devastating time,” Sindhu, who was not at the tournament, wrote on X.

“The world has lost a remarkable talent today.”