The Hindu : Sport / Badminton : BAI makes no headway

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Sport - Badminton

BAI makes no headway

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: The Badminton Association of India (BAI) has received no response from the Sports Authority of India (SAI) about the supply of shuttles in the near future, leaving the federation with little hope of providing any meaningful training to the Indian teams for the Thomas Cup and Uber Cup qualifiers.

The qualifying rounds begin in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, on February 19 and there is little time left to get the players to re-assemble and start the camp that was scheduled to begin in Panjim, Goa, on Thursday but had to be cancelled because of the lack of shuttlecocks. The players have gone back to their hometowns or training bases and they would be expected to go through the minimum workouts at least to keep them fit.

A fiasco

“It is a fiasco,” said BAI President V.K. Verma on Thursday. “If the (Union Sports) Ministry gives us the green signal perhaps we can request Yonex to airlift the shuttles at a short notice,” he said.

Asked whether it was not possible for SAI to procure the shuttles to meet the immediate requirements from the open market within India, Mr. Verma said that this was suggested to SAI during his talks with its Director-General, but that option had also been ruled out.

When pointed out that the avian flu had forced a ban on the import of feather and feather products including shuttlecocks and a clearance, even from a long-term perspective, could be difficult to get, Mr. Verma said that the Customs had made a wrong interpretation of the restrictions and Yonex shuttles were being used world-wide.

“We have given a letter from the Badminton World Federation (BWF) President to the Government of India stating that Yonex shuttles are chemically treated and are free of any virus and are being used world-wide in all Thomas Cup and Uber Cup competitions,” said Mr. Verma.

He said that the question of avian flu-related clearance would come only if the process of importing the shuttles was put in place. In the normal course it could take at least a month, unless “we get a shipment diverted” to meet the Indian requirements, he said.

However, Dr S. K. Gangopadhyay, Commissioner, Animal Husbandry, Union Ministry of Agriculture, said that if his department was made aware of the process by which the shuttles were made by a particular company, with complete details of the production, an expert committee could look into the matter.

Dr Gangopadhyay said that even if the shipment was made from a country that was not among avian influenza-positive, Codex regulations would have required the disclosure of the origin of ingredients and thus the ban, now in force for imports of poultry and poultry products from avian influenza-positive countries, would be extended to such products also.

Best shuttlecocks

The best shuttlecocks are made out of feathers of geese from China and Chinese Taipei.

Mr. Verma said the Yonex shuttles from the entire region were being shipped out of Hong Kong China and the authorities there were certifying such shipments as being bird flu virus free.

The BAI had projected a requirement of around 4000 dozen shuttles up to the Beijing Olympic Games, Mr. Verma said. He added that this included shuttles required for all the major tournaments in the run-up to the Games.

“Either the SAI provides us the shuttles or the ministry has to allow us to import. And for that we need a firm clearance. We cannot commit 30 lakhs without getting the approval of the ministry,” Mr. Verma said.

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