Shenzhen badminton hall left vacant, owner suspected to have fled

Shenzhen Badminton Hall is deserted, with the owner exposed for borrowing over 2 million yuan (RMB) from parents of underage students or adult students, which hasn’t been repaid. About 400 people are estimated to have suffered losses. The owner of the hall, Mr. Wu, is currently missing.

Recently, a 2 minutes and 39 seconds video circulating online shows a closed door with the words “优羽羽毛球训练营” (优羽 Badminton Training Camp). A woman, believed to be a parent, opens another door revealing an empty badminton training court scattered with shuttlecocks. Inside, several small rooms are shown with some scattered shuttlecocks on the floor. The rooms are in disarray, with some filled with trash, presenting a stark contrast to the bustling scenes in prior videos and photos of the training camp where male and female students were seen training under the guidance of coaches.

According to a report by the Huashang Daily on March 7, the badminton training camp is located in Shajing Street, Bao’an District, Shenzhen, Guangdong Province. A printed notice on the glass door addressed to “fellow badminton enthusiasts” states that “the owner of the badminton training camp is unreachable…”

An informed badminton enthusiast stated that the badminton training camp has been deserted for about a week, resulting in heavy losses for the members.

One member mentioned that the price for a class of 4 students aged 5 to 16 in the badminton training camp is 6,800 yuan for 50 lessons. The duration of the class is 60 minutes for one-on-one sessions, 90 minutes for two students, and 120 minutes for three or four students. The price includes a set of sportswear, rackets, a bag, a fascia gun, and a skipping rope.

The report mentioned that a recruiting brochure for the training camp showed that the owner, surnamed Wu, claimed to have graduated from Guangzhou Sports College with a major in Physical Education. He was identified as a national second-class athlete and a first-class coach. “优羽 Badminton Training Camp” was founded by him on New Year’s Day in 2024, offering high-quality small group classes, private lessons, group classes, and public welfare classes.

Another informed member stated that Mr. Wu, 45 years old, hails from Maonan District, Maoming City, Guangdong Province, serving as both the owner and coach of the camp.

The brochure also promised a no-reason refund policy. However, prior to the incident, some parents had requested a refund due to their children’s lack of interest in the classes, but Wu had not processed any refunds until the incident occurred, leaving many questioning, “Isn’t this deceiving us?”

Several members revealed, “Many of us have paid the tuition fees, but now we can’t reach Wu and the losses of training fees are still being calculated.”

Mr. Zhang mentioned that his two children had attended Wu’s badminton training camp. Apart from losing over 10,000 yuan in training fees, Wu borrowed 35,000 yuan from him, which remains unpaid. On the morning of February 28, when a player went to practice, they found the place abandoned with all the equipment removed. “We called Wu, the call went through, but he never answered.”

Another player disclosed that they had set up two WeChat groups for rights protection, with a total of 389 people. Everyone in the group shared screenshots of bank transfers to Wu, discovering that Wu often borrowed money from parents or adult students for various reasons such as family illnesses, the need to expand the camp, among others. “Preliminary statistics show that these loans alone exceed 2 million yuan, with one person being borrowed up to 150,000 yuan.”