Indian badminton players doubtful for Malaysia Open after travel ban
indian badminton player‘ participate malaysia open The 2021 event, which will take place from May 25-30, looks in doubt after the Malaysian government imposed a ban on travelers from India.
Travel Restrictions Seriously Hazard Senna Nehwal, Kidabi Srikanth and the efforts of several other badminton players to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics.
However, the Badminton Association of India (BAI) has asked organizers in Malaysia and Singapore to clarify the quarantine rules applicable to Indian badminton players intending to compete in the two events.
The Malaysian Badminton Open is the penultimate Tokyo Olympic qualifier before the Singapore Open in June.
Malaysia’s travel ban, which came into effect on Wednesday, follows a spike in COVID-19 cases in India over the past week. The United Kingdom, New Zealand, France, Hong Kong, Maldives, Netherlands and other countries have also included India in the ban list.
The travel ban is expected to remain in place indefinitely as more than 300,000 positive cases are registered each day and numbers continue to climb. Indian badminton players need to be in Kuala Lumpur by at least May 10 to compete in the BWF Super 750 event.
The BAI said it had submitted the players’ travel documents for visas. According to the federation, despite the ban on Indians, sports are exempt in exceptional circumstances.
“Due to the current travel restrictions, Indian players will not be able to take direct flights,” BAI said in a statement. “We have checked the routes and the alternatives are either from Sri Lanka or from Doha, and the Indian shuttle is most likely to fly through. Qatar.”
Points earned from both events will be added to the player’s points Rush to the Tokyo rankings – Plans to finalize who will qualify for the Tokyo Games after the Games qualification window closes on June 15.
Hence, missing out on the Malaysia Open will seriously hamper many Indian badminton players’ chances of qualifying for the upcoming Summer Olympics.
The postponement of the India Badminton Open, which was scheduled to be held in Delhi from May 11-16, has dealt a heavy blow to Indian badminton players aiming for Tokyo.
A 19-member Indian team has signed up for the 2021 Malaysian Open.
Judging from the current Tokyo competition rankings, only Photovoltaic Sindhu, B Cy Planis and doubles pair Chirag Shetty and Satvik Seraj Rankireddy Can advance to Tokyo.
London 2012 bronze medalist Saina Nehwal is No. 22 on the women’s singles list and a former world No. 1. Men’s singles No. 1 Kidambi Srikanth needs to break into the top 16 in their respective categories to qualify directly for the Olympics.