The Hindu : Sport / Badminton : BAI leaves out the rebels

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, May 09, 2007
ePaper

Sport

Sport - Badminton

BAI leaves out the rebels

Principal Correspondent

HYDERABAD: The Badminton Association of India decided to leave out three shuttlers — National champion B. Chetan Anand, National women's doubles champions Jwala Gutta and Shruthi Kurien — as the three-day selection trials, for the Sudirman Cup World team championship (June 10 to 17) and for the three other events including the World Championship scheduled in August in Malaysia, ended here on Tuesday.

K.Ch. Punnaiah Choudhary, joint secretary, BAI, told The Hindu that since the above shuttlers did not attend the trials — deemed mandatory to be in contention to make the National squad — the selection committee would now go ahead and finalise the Indian team in Mumbai on Wednesday.

Stand ignored

"We have not heard anything from them even today and hence they stand ignored for selection," Mr. Choudhary said. "We tried our best to accommodate them by even extending the deadline in the selection trials itself till today. Originally they were supposed to report by 3 p.m. on the first day (May 6). But, they continued to be adamant," he said.

It was also revealed that these shuttlers would not only miss the Sudirman Cup, but also the three-week training in Malaysia (sponsored by Yonex), the Thailand Open, the Philippines Open and the World championship.

"As far as the future of these shuttlers is concerned, it is not in the BAI hands. It's up to them now. We have taken every care to complete all the formalities to conduct the trials for the three scheduled days, without leaving any scope for complaint of bias," the BAI official concluded.

PTI adds from New Delhi

Meanwhile, taking a serious view of the ongoing feud, the Sports Ministry on Tuesday sought an early end to the dispute, saying both parties should show maturity and resolve the differences in the interest of the game.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Sport