The Hindu : Sport / Badminton : Three champions stay away

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, May 07, 2007
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Three champions stay away

Principal Correspondent

HYDERABAD: Even as the three shuttlers — National champion B. Chetan Anand, National women's doubles champions Jwala Gutta and Shruthi Kurien — stayed away, the Badminton Association of India went ahead with the trials at Gachibowli on Sunday, the first day of the three-day process, to select players for the Sudirman Cup in Scotland next month.

The BAI observer S.A. Shetty told The Hindu that the trials were to identify the second stand-bye in men's singles to Anup Sridhar, who figures in the provisional list.

"I tried to contact Chetan. But his father-in-law remarked that there was no clarity in the communication about the trials and hence they were not attending the trials," he said.

The Hyderabad-based shuttlers seem to be still sulking at being denied the chance to compete in the two Super Series events in Indonesia and Malaysia. And they also seek a proper explanation.

"When players like Gopi Chand and Aparna Popat were exempted from attending a similar camp in 2002 before the Commonwealth Games, why this discrimination now?" one player asked.

Provisional team list

It may be recalled here that the provisional team list is as follows: Anup Sridhar, B. Chetan Anand (stand-bye in singles), V. Diju & Aparna Balan (mixed doubles). Women: Saina Nehwal, Aditi Mutatkar (stand-bye in singles), Jwala Gutta and Shruthi Kurien (doubles).

Effectively, the BAI looks for a doubles partner for Aparna Balan, who is already in the mixed doubles team, and that choice can be from the four combinations which are taking part in the trials: Ashwin Ponappa & Aparna Balan; Saina Nehwal & Nitya Sosala; Abantika Deka & Rimi Hazarika; P. Jyotsna & Soumya Upadhyaya.

Men's singles

For the men's singles second slot, the contenders are, P. Kashyap, Ravindra Singh, Ajay Jayaram, Sagar Chopra and Rohan Castellino.

It was also clarified that Anup Sridhar was not called for the trials since he is the No.1 player in the provisional list and that he expressed his willingness to join the camp from May 14 here. Anand Pawar ruled himself out due to his college examinations, while Aditi Mutatkar and Trupti Murugunde were exempted for different reasons.

The trials will be on a round-robin format with the players with maximum wins being eligible for selection. The official list will be disclosed on May 10 when the deadline for finalising the Indian team for the Sudirman Cup ends.

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