KUALA LUMPUR, May 9 (Bernama) -- Malaysia was awarded a 5-0 win against Nigeria after the African qualifiers failed to show-up at the court for the opening Group B match of the Thomas Cup badminton tournament at Putra Stadium in Bukit Jalil, here Sunday.

The match between the third seed, Malaysia and Nigeria, seeded 11th, should have been played at court 2 at 6 pm but only the host players were at the court.

But Badminton World Federation (BWF) delayed in announcing the decision whether to give a walk-over win to Malaysia or wait for the Nigerian team to arrive here at 9.15 pm, causing the 200 fans in the stadium to shout and eagerly waited to see Malaysian team in action.

The BWF then issued a statement stating that the match would not be played today, causing a protest from the reporters who wanted to know whether Malaysia had a walk-over win or the match would be played later.

According to BWF regulations, each team should arrive at least 48 hours before the tournament or the tournament referee could disqualify them.

BWF Chief Operating Officer Thomas Lund, in a press conference later, said Malaysia was awarded a 5-0 win against Nigeria as the African country had failed to show-up for the match.

Asked whether Nigeria would be disqualified from the tournament, Lund said the BWF would make the decision tomorrow.

"But flight problems are uncontrollable. The tournament referee, Mojmir Hnilica (from the Czech Republic) will make the decision. If the Negerian excuse is valid, we'll allow them to play in the second match," he told reporters, here today.

Nigeria's second match is against Japan at 6 pm tomorrow while Malaysia will do battle with Japan at 6 pm on Tuesday.

-- BERNAMA.com
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This look unfair to me.