Chinese women's cricket team captain Zhu Mingyue cries after learning the result. Photo: Xinhua

Chinese women's cricket team's long-awaited return to the Asian Games ended before it could even take the field, as its quarterfinal against Bangladesh was canceled due to a waterlogged pitch on Wednesday during the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games in Japan, Xinhua News Agency reported on Thursday. 
 
At this year's Asian Games qualifiers in May, China defeated Nepal to secure a return to the Asian Games after a 12-year absence. But the team's campaign came to an early end.

Persistent rainfall in recent days in Japan had left the field wet and soft, making it unsuitable for play. The quarterfinal match was initially delayed before being called off. Under the cricket competition regulations for the Asian Games, if a match cannot be played due to objective factors such as weather, the winner is determined based on the teams' world rankings, Xinhua reported. 

The higher-ranked Bangladesh was thus awarded a place in the semifinals under tournament regulations. The Chinese team therefore exited the competition without taking the field.

Eight teams are competing in the women's cricket event at this year's Asian Games. Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and India are the seeded teams ranked in the world's top 10, and were drawn against the four unseeded teams - China, Thailand, Malaysia and Japan, respectively.
 
The early knockout without taking the field has sparked outcry and heated discussions on social media. 

"The match was canceled because the field was waterlogged. But is that really a sufficient basis for deciding the outcome? Even if the game could not be played, a draw or another form of tie-breaker would at least have given both teams some sense of participation. Simply awarding the semifinal spot based on world rankings seems overly simplistic. How can cricket rules be so rigid and blunt in a situation like this?" said a Sina Weibo user from Guangdong Province. 
 
"I can't believe something this absurd could happen. What does this make of all the hard work athletes put in, training day after day?" said another user from East China's Jiangsu Province. 
 
The Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games will officially open on Saturday and run through October 4. China has topped the Asian Games gold medal table at 11 consecutive editions since 1982.