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Badminton Asia Championships: Shuttlers blame BAI for tournament entry gaffe
HS Prannoy and B Sai Praneeth were looking to take part in the April 23-28 event but later got to know that only two names – Kidambi Srikanth and Sameer Verma – have been confirmed
There is trouble brewing between the Badminton Association of India (BAI), and two of the country’s top shuttlers, after the players alleged that the association has denied them a chance to participate at the Badminton Asia Championships in Wuhan, China.
HS Prannoy and B Sai Praneeth were looking to take part in the April 23-28 event but later got to know that only two names – Kidambi Srikanth and Sameer Verma – have been confirmed in men’s singles for the $400,000 tournament.
“Our entries were not confirmed by the BAI,” said Prannoy. “There are four entries but only two were confirmed.”
Unlike most BWF World Tour events where participants forward their entries to the national federation which then further sends it to the host association, the Badminton Asia Championships, like the World Championships, invite entries on the basis of world rankings. The entries are then confirmed by the national federation in consultation with the players.
The top-four Indian men’s shuttlers in the world are Srikanth (world No 8), Verma (15), Sai (20) and Prannoy (21).
“This is the Olympic qualification year and all these tournaments are extremely important for us. We are training hard and this is how it ends up. They even messed it up for New Zealand Open too and did not send entries of many players,” said Prannoy.
The $150,000 New Zealand Open is due to be held from April 30 to May 5. The entries of doubles players Ashwini Ponnappa, Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy were also not sent for the Auckland tournament.
“I do not take chances and recheck my entry every time,” said Jayaram, world No 48, whose entry has been confirmed for the New Zealand Open. “But yes I suffered when BAI did not send my entry last year for the Canada Open.”
BAI denied that there has been a mistake, issuing a statement to the press late in the evening.
“Based on the email received from Badminton Asia, we were asked to send names of two players each for men and women’s singles; three names each for men’s and women’s doubles and four players for mixed doubles and the draw that was published based the world ranking of players dated February 26 mentioned Kidambi Srikanth (world ranking 6) and Sameer Verma (11) in the main draw as per the ranking eligibility list published by Badminton Asia and the same was followed to send the players for the Championships,” said the statement.
However, a Badminton Asia official confirmed that four entries were valid from India.
“It is a clear mistake by the association. Malaysia, Indonesia all have got four entries,” said Sai Praneeth. “This year all of us are ranked in top-20 but they’ve sent only two entries. Last year we were not even in the top-25 but four of us got entries. I have spoken to the tournament organizers who have told us that a mail was sent to BAI for four entries.”
Players have also alleged that they have to endure scheduling and ticketing goof-ups made by the BAI on a regular basis.
“The last 4-5 months, there has been some problem or the other,” Prannoy said. “Like when we had to fly for the Malaysia Open, I was told at 5 PM to take a 10 PM flight. I couldn’t and had to postpone it. Then during the India Open, Manu (Attri) and Sumeeth (Reddy) got their tickets (to Malaysia) for Saturday, when they were scheduled to play their semi-finals (in New Delhi).”
For All England Open too, players alleged that they were clueless about their flight tickets even on the day of their flight.
“I remember Ashwini (Ponnappa) sent a message to the national campers group the day we were supposed to take our flight, asking if anyone had any information about the flight. But nobody knew anything. They sent tickets at the last moment. Half the team were put on one flight on Saturday, the other half on a crazy connecting flight the next day,” Prannoy said.