KUALA LUMPUR – The Malaysia Stadium Corporation said that ongoing refurbishment works on the roof of the Axiata Arena have caused leaking during the first day of the Malaysia Open Super 1000 series.
Stadium Corp Chief Executive Iliyas Jamil said that this was an unforeseen incident and pledged cooperation with the Public Works Department (Jabatan Kerja Raya) to ensure it does not happen again before the tournament concludes on January 12.
“The roof at Axiata Arena has been part of the refurbishment since last April. It is an old roof, dating back to the 1998 Commonwealth Games. JKR has appointed contractors to replace the roof with the guarantee that we would not need to close the venue.
“Since the refurbishment began last year, there have been some leaks during other events, but we have managed to resolve them without any issues. However, today’s incident was unexpected, possibly due to the heavy rain and strong winds.
“We have temporarily covered the leaks with canvas and will begin repairs once the matches are over tonight.
“This is the first time such an issue has occurred inside the court; normally, any leaks happen in other areas. We are just as shocked as the fans. This was something beyond our control.
“But we guarantee that this will not happen again during the remainder of the tournament, which ends on Sunday.”
“Not only badminton, but we also have other events scheduled for the rest of the year, and we need to ensure this does not happen again,” Iliyas said during a press conference at Axiata Arena today.
The heavy downpour at Axiata Arena due to the roof leakage disrupted the match between national women’s doubles pair Go Pei Kee and Teoh Mei Xing against China’s Jia Yi Fan and Zhang Shu Xian on Court 2. Officials were forced to stop the match and clean the court with rags.
The Chinese pair had to play in the rain for nearly three minutes before the officials postponed the game. At the time of the suspension, the Chinese pair was leading 11-10 in the first set against the Malaysians.
The leak at the arena also affected Court 3, where Canadian shuttler Brian Yang was playing against India’s H.S. Prannoy in the men’s singles.
However, the situation did not disrupt the pace of Prannoy, who comfortably won the first set 21-12 and was leading 6-3 in the second set when the game was postponed. – January 7, 2025