KUALA LUMPUR, July 1 — Badminton fans who turned up early for the quarter-finals of the 2022 Malaysian Open today had to spend a long time waiting under the hot sun to enter the Axiata Arena stadium in Bukit Jalil.

Checks by Bernama showed that the stadium gates were only opened one hour before the scheduled start of 3pm for the matches, forcing spectators to queue for 500 metres before entering the stadium.

The quarterfinal matches involve big names like Olympic champion Viktor Axelsen, Kento Momota, Tai Tzu Ying, Ratchanok Intanon, Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik, Mohammad Ahsan-Hendra Setiawan and PV Sindhu.

A spectator, Alex Tan, 25, said he and his friend arrived at 12.15pm but had to wait until 2pm before they were allowed to enter the stadium.

"We know the quarter-finals would start at 3pm but did not know the gates would only be opened at 2pm. We came early hoping to get seats in the front because it is free seating (for that section). We were also hoping to spend time buying some tournament merchandise inside the stadium.

"Because the gates were opened late, we had to rush to our seats and did not get to see the merchandise. Despite the tiring wait, we are happy for getting good seats,” he said.

He said some spectators lost their cool and raised their voice asking for the gates to be opened fast. — Bernama