“Chinese player Zhang Zhijie collapsed during a match in the late afternoon,” the Badminton Asian Federation and the Indonesian Badminton Federation said in a joint statement.

Zhang Zhijie fainted while facing Japan's Kazuma Kawano at the Asian Junior Badminton Championships in Yogyakarta, Java, Indonesia.

The statement added: “He was treated by the tournament doctor and the medical staff and was transported by ambulance in less than two minutes and sent to the hospital.”

“The young player was taken to hospital where he died at 11:20 pm” on Sunday (5:20 pm, in Lisbon), the same note said.

The Chinese Badminton Association, which joined the two organizations behind the statement to express “deepest condolences to the player's parents and family,” said: “At present, the local hospital has not yet determined the cause of death.”

Zhang Zhijie started playing badminton at an early age, and joined the Chinese national junior team last year.

Earlier this year, he won the singles title at the Dutch Junior International, a prestigious youth tournament held in Haarlem, Netherlands.

A minute of silence was observed at the team tournament held in Yogyakarta today, and the Chinese team wore black armbands as a sign of respect.

Indian athlete Pusarla Venkata Sindhu, an Olympic silver and bronze medalist in 2016 and 2021 respectively, described Zhang's death as “absolutely heartbreaking”.

“The world has lost a great talent today,” he wrote on Twitter, offering his “deepest condolences” to the young Chinese player's family.