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ndonesia’s road to the Thomas and Uber Cup badminton tournaments will be rocky, not only because of a string of injuries among its top shuttlers but also because of the presence of defending Thomas Cup champion China in the preliminary round.

Usually, as host and defending champion, a country will not compete in the preliminary rounds. South Korea, the defending champion of the Uber Cup, will not be competing in the preliminaries.

But China has decided to take part in the Thomas and Uber Cup Asian zone preliminary round on Feb. 14-19 in Macau.

The decision has sparked reactions from many countries, including Indonesia. The Indonesian Badminton Association (PBSI) said that it had questioned China’s decision with the Badminton World Federation (BWF).

“We’ve asked the BWF over China’s attendance [in preliminary round], because as host it automatically qualifies for the final rounds,” PBSI general-secretary Yacob Rusdianto said on Tuesday, as quoted by Antara news agency.

“The BWF said that China’s decision did not violate any article in the federation’s regulations. China has decided to let go of its privilege and has chosen to take part in the preliminary round both in the Thomas and Uber Cup events.”

China, the strongest team in badminton, reportedly wants to partake in the preliminaries to amass more points for the upcoming Olympics in London in July-August.

With a string of injuries among half-a-dozen of its top players, Indonesia still listed injured players in the Thomas and Uber Cup team announced on Tuesday, including men’s singles Dionysius Hayom Rumbaka, men’s doubles M. Ahsan, and women’s doubles Nitya Krishinda Maheswari.

The Thomas and Uber Cup tournament will be held on May 20-27 in Wuhan, China.

According to the Badminton Asia Confederation (BAC), the Asian zone preliminary in Macau will feature 14 countries, including host China.

The preliminary round will come up with the top four for the Thomas Cup, excluding defending champion China, and the top three for the Uber Cup, excluding host China and defending champion South Korea.

Yacob said that China’s presence in the preliminaries would not affect seats up for grabs in the final round because China, as host and defending champion of the Thomas Cup, had automatically secured its spot in the finals.

“What if China fails in the preliminary, will the country still earn the right to be in the finals round? It would be strange to not have the host in the finals. That’s our next question to the BWF if such a thing happens,” he added.

In terms of injured shuttlers, Yacob said that Ahsan, Hayom and Nitya had joined the training program.

“So far, they’ve started the training. We have a few more weeks ahead to continue the program. We even decided to cancel a simulation tournament [for the Thomas and Uber Cups] because of their recovery, which is far more important. Now, they are fatigue-free,” he added.

Team Indonesia is scheduled to fly to Macau on Feb. 9 in order to acclimatize to the local conditions before the preliminary round.