Badminton | ‘India Open postponement is disheartening’

The postponement of the India Open, which was scheduled to be held in New Delhi from May 11 and is an Olympics qualifying tournament, is disheartening and shows that the players’ interests are not taken care of, said P. Kashyap, husband of Saina Nehwal.

Helpless

“It is really upsetting that the Delhi event is postponed. We are helpless.

“We have serious doubts whether anyone cares for the players when they take these decisions,” the 34-year-old Kashyap told The Hindu here on Wednesday.

Kashyap, who also dons the role of a mentor to Saina besides pursuing his own career, said the India Open, along with Malaysian and the Singapore Opens, are the last three Olympics qualifying events and now players like Saina and Srikanth are left with only the last two events.

“Our calculations were that if Saina were to make it to the quarterfinals in two of the three tournaments, her chances of making the Olympics cut were bright,” Kashyap said. “Now, it has come to two out of two. It is not going to be easy and I strongly believe no one cares about the players getting a fair chance of qualifying for the Games.

“Exactly for this reason, I feel the All England Championships early this year should also have been treated as a qualifying event.”

Kashyap added that Saina is nearing full fitness, despite being troubled by niggles which are taking a long time to heal.

Tough phase

“It has been a very tough last two years for her. Because of the pandemic, the conditions are bad.

“But when IPL and tennis can go on, a way should be found out to ensure the Olympics qualifying events are held,” he said.

“Now all we can do is to hope that at least the Malaysian and Singapore Opens will be held on schedule.”