Bangladesh women's cricket team advanced to the semi finals of the Asian Games without a ball being bowled, after their quarter final against China was abandoned in Nagoya on Thursday, due to a persistently wet outfield.
Both sets of players had completed their warm ups in sunny conditions, but the ground itself remained unfit for play, having stayed saturated from days of earlier rain despite the clear skies overhead on matchday itself.
Umpires inspected the surface on three separate occasions before ultimately calling off the fixture entirely, meaning the two captains never even walked out for the toss ahead of what was scheduled as a 9am local start.
With Bangladesh ranked 10th in the ICC's T20I standings and China placed 36th, tournament regulations meant the higher ranked side advanced automatically, sending Nigar Sultana Joty's team through to the last four without playing a match.
A similar situation had unfolded at the previous Asian Games in Hangzhou, China, where adverse weather also forced the tournament to fall back on rankings based progression rather than results on the field.
India face Japan on Friday, September 18, at 11am Bangladesh time, with the winner of that fixture set to meet Bangladesh in the semi final on September 20.
Bangladesh's women have previously claimed two silver medals and one bronze at the Asian Games, and will hope to add to that tally regardless of how their quarter final ultimately unfolded on paper rather than on the pitch.
Thursday's non event would have carried genuine historical weight for China, marking what was set to be their most significant fixture in international cricket to date. The two sides had previously met at the 2010 Asian Games, where Bangladesh bowled China out for just 34 runs and won by nine wickets inside seven overs, though that encounter lacked official international recognition at the time.
September remains the wettest period of the year in Nagoya, and rain had already disrupted Bangladesh's preparations before the abandoned fixture, limiting the squad's ability to train fully in the buildup to the tournament.
Elsewhere in Japan, Bangladesh's women's football team are also in action on Thursday, facing South Korea in Osaka at 4pm local time, following an opening 10-0 defeat to North Korea in their previous group match.