Badminton player blames visa issues for early exit

Israeli Misha Zilberman has been knocked out of the world badminton championships and has blamed issues he had with getting a visa from Indonesian authorities for his early exit.

The 26-year-old suffered a first round defeat to Taiwan’s Hsu Jen-hao, 21-14, 21-14, having initially been refused a permit to enter Indonesia, and was instead stuck in Singapore during the build-up to the tournament. Although he was eventually granted a visa, just 24 hours before his match, in an interview with the badminton federation, he blamed the visa issues he faced for his loss. He said: “I am very disappointed that I didn’t show even 50 percent of what I could because I didn’t practice for the last five days or hit any shuttles. I thought I could play better… more close to him. I would have needed three or four days to come and feel everything.”

He did though say he was happy that he competed in Jakarta, saying: “It showed that “sport is more important than politics.”