Saina, Srikanth’s Olympics hopes hit as Indian staff’s Malaysian Open participation doubtful

London Olympics bronze-medallist Saina Nehwal and males’s star Kidambi Srikanth’s final hopes of Olympic qualification dangle in stability because the Indian authorities negotiates for his or her participation within the Malaysian Open amid a ban on flights from India in that nation.
Following the postponement of the India Open (May 11-16), Saina and Srikanth’s hopes of qualifying for the Tokyo Games hinge on the (May 25-30) Kuala Lumpur occasion adopted by the Singapore Open (June 1-6).
In the wake of an unprecedented COVID-19 surge in India, Malaysia and Singapore have banned flights from the nation efficient April 28.
“The Sports Ministry, through the Ministry of External Affairs, has approached the Malaysian Government requesting to grant permission to the Indian Badminton Team to travel to Malaysia to participate in the Malaysian Open scheduled from May 25 to May 30,” the Sports Authority of India stated in an announcement.
“This is in light of a temporary travel ban that has been imposed by Malaysia on travellers from India, owing to the rising COVID-19 cases in India,” it added.
After an preliminary request made earlier this week, the Indian High Commission in Malaysia “received information from the Malaysian Government that the travel of the team may not be possible immediately.”
“However, with 19 days left for the competition to begin, the possibility of travel cannot be ruled out completely,” SAI acknowledged.
The event is among the final occasions that contribute to Olympic qualification which ends on June 15. All high Indian singles and doubles gamers like PV Sindhu, Saina Nehwal, Kidambi Srikanth, Sai Praneeth, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, Chirag Shetty, Ashwini Ponnappa and Sikki Reddy are attributable to take part on this.
The Badminton Association of India stated it has nonetheless not given up hope and is awaiting for a response from the Badminton World Federation (BWF).
“Indian nationals won’t be allowed in Malaysia as well as in Singapore, this is already in public knowledge. This is why we had written to both the Member Countries to consider our request as a special case with respect to the Olympic Qualification of some of our players,” BAI common secretary Ajay Singhania instructed PTI.
“The matter has been taken up with BWF as well and we are awaiting Badminton Malaysia’s response. Until they decline any possibility we will continue to pursue every opportunity that we have to send our shuttlers.”
The governing physique had earlier stated that as per the laid-out tips, for any Indian to enter Singapore, they need to both be in quarantine in another country apart from India for 14 days earlier than they are going to be allowed to enter Singapore.
“Alternatively all players have to maintain a 21 days quarantine in Singapore.”
“As for Malaysia, for now there is a 14 days quarantine guideline which means, our players have to reach Malaysia on May 10, 2021 to follow the protocols laid out by both the countries.”
With direct journey not doable, BAI had been attempting to work out an answer and was exploring different routes to succeed in Malaysia through Doha or Sri Lanka.
BWF, then again, has been in dialogue with BA of Malaysia (BAM) on the feasibility of conducting the Malaysia Open in mild of the host nation’s 14-day necessary quarantine rule for taking part nations, together with Denmark, Japan and China.
COVID-19 circumstances are on the rise in Malaysia as properly and thus far 14 shuttlers within the nation have examined optimistic, in response to experiences.
Just a few days again, World quantity two Viktor Axelsen had additionally pulled out of the European Championship ultimate in Kiev after returning COVID optimistic.
Indian shuttlers who’ve already made the minimize for the Olympics embody PV Sindhu, B Sai Praneeth and males’s doubles pair of Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy.
Besides the quartet, Srikanth, Saina and the ladies’s doubles pair of N Sikki Reddy and Ashwini Ponnappa had been imagined to take part within the two Olympic qualifiers.
The COVID-19 pandemic had disrupted the worldwide calender final 12 months as properly, forcing the BWF to cancel or postpone many of the tournaments and in addition give you a brand new Olympic qualifying interval.