Badminton Bangalore

More instructive has been the reasons given by the English badminton players for their vanishing act. It would appear that the reason was not confined to the terrorist threat but some other factors…Tushar Charan The England players’ ‘unanimous’ decision to pull out of the world badminton championship just a day before its start in Hyderabad shows them and their association in poor light. While it will be equally ‘immature’- a word used by Indian star Saina Nehwal for the English players’ decision- to entirely dismiss reports of an LeT threat to the tournament in the southern metropolis, it has to be noticed that no other team thought it fit to scoot, bag and baggage, from Hyderabad. There has also been an instant comparison with the decisions of the Scottish and Wales badminton teams to stay on for the tournament. Mention has been made of the English cricketers when they last came to India and following a terrorist attack temporarily returned home but came back to complete the series. But that comparison is perhaps not entirely appropriate because the badminton tourney in Hyderabad cannot obviously be interrupted and resumed at the pleasure of the English players.

More instructive has been the reasons given by the English badminton players for their vanishing act. It would appear that the reason was not confined to the terrorist threat but some other factors: the failure of the hosts to treat the English visitors as something less than a royalty. The chief executive of Badminton England, Adrian Christy, declared as soon as he returned home that the security provided to the team did not match the ‘expected’ levels, both ‘on arrival’ and subsequently. He was obviously expecting a 21-gun salute at the airport, round-the-clock bodyguards for himself and his players and entries barred to every ‘native’ wherever the exalted English players went or played. Perhaps all that could have been arranged if India was still a colony of the British; or did the man think Britannia still ruled the waves? Their top men’s player, Natahan Robertson, winner of an Olympian silver medal, was the most relieved person. He did not find Hyderabad to be a ’safe place’ and was ‘glad to be home in one piece!’ For good measure everyone was reminded by the English players that there has been a spate of terror attacks in India by extremist groups LeT, a Pakistan-based outfit.

The team coach, Andy Wood, was appalled to find that access to the hotel and the stadium where the team practised was ‘easy.’ How come that ‘easy’ approach did not bother anyone else? But pray, what is an ‘easy’ approach? Should India have followed the British and American example and strip-search everyone who approached different places visited by the English badminton players? It will be a pity if the Indian authorities, as is their wont, take a lenient view of the English arrogance-or should it be seen as cowardice? It had been made clear that the ‘threat’ perception to the world badminton championship at Hyderabad was not very specific. But the usual security precautions were in place in Hyderabad, as they will always be whenever international events, sporting or otherwise, are held in India because of the perpetual threat of terrorist attacks planned across the border. The English badminton players and their association should be told in no uncertain terms that if they think India cannot meet the ‘levels’ of security they expect they should stay at home to remain ‘in one piece’ when the Commonwealth Games are held in Delhi next year. Any other of the 71 nations that are invited to the Games should also remain in their safe cocoons if India is too dangerous and risky for them and their egos. Simultaneously, the government of India and sporting organisations in the world must make it clear once and for all that no team would be allowed to withdraw on ’security’ considerations after a venue has been cleared with all due considerations, including the safety of players. An exception can be made only if something as unfortunate and unpredictable as the attack on Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore, Pakistan, in March this year, takes place.

The English badminton association will get away with a ‘token’ fine. They will have the freedom to repeat their antics, especially if the chances of their team winning any medal appear dim, as they apparently did in Hyderabad. The English badminton players were following a precedent set by, who else, the haughty Australians who most Indians today see as the epitome of racialism that is displayed on sporting fields as well as the streets of Australia, especially the areas swarmed by the brown-skinned ‘despicable’ Indians with ‘funny’ English accents who display their ‘opulence’ in the shape of cell phones. Early this summer, the Australians had cried off a Davis Cup match against India in Chennai because they imagined Maulana Hafiz Saeed’s well-armed men were lurking in every corner of that ancient, peaceful southern city. Just how the Aussies had decided that they would be facing volleys from guns not tennis racquets in Chennai was never clear. At the time of writing this article, Australia returned from Hyderabad expressing concern over their health in the wake of Swine Flu outbreak.. In the display of the usual self-flagellation, we are known for; many have tended to blame the cricket administration for providing a cue to the English badminton players to throw tantrums about so-called flaws in security provided to the visitors. The highly lucrative and popular cricket league matches were shifted to South Africa from India because the government said it was not in a position to make all the security arrangements needed for a tournament of that size. The government was not against staging the cricket matches in India; it was only stating the obvious that with the massive exercise of a general election coinciding with the cricket tournament it will not be possible to spare the necessary security forces for both the elections and the cricket ‘tamasha.’ For the Hyderabad tournament there was no other distraction in the country; at least nothing was in schedule though the likes of LeT are not known to announce any timetable for carrying out barbaric acts. As for the cricket tourney-all threats to the English, Australian and other foreign players disappears in the face of the dollar bonanza that each one of them receives for exhibiting their real or imaginary histrionics on and off the cricket fields.

RBC, WBC is not just in Blood : I had studied about Red blood Cells ( RBC) & White blood Cells (WBC) in school. Then heard about their counts in case of blood tests. This being a season of Flus ( wat with dengue, pneumonia, swine flu making headlines everyday!!) i am sure there is a lot of RBC & WBC counts going on in labs. But I was doing another kind of count – that of RBC in WBC. In a purely badminton sense RBC means Red Badminton champions, WBC means world badminton championships! RBC is my word for chinese champions (red being their flag color!). In case you dont like China, you have the option of reading RBC as Real Badminton Champions!

The Build-Up: I was aware of WBC in August when I followed Taufeek Hidayat winning Indian Open few months back. He had promised to return for WBC. Public memory is short, esp when it comes to sport other than cricket! Being one of such public, I had conveniently forgotten about it, but then came Saina’s Super series win. The media gave a lot of coverage to WBC as she was our trump card for a podium finish. As days approached I was  among many badminton loving aam aadmi’s to get my share of action on DD sports. ( there were reports that ticket prices were kept high to keep away spectators -another case of  “it happens only in India”!! )

Fear-Factor: Just days short of WBC came the fear of H1N1. There was speculation the tournament will be called off. But that news had an infant mortality – dying down even before it could spread. But then the Devil hired the services of English team to try & tarnish WBC being held at India. The very ‘Courageous’ English, who once had 1/3rd of the globe as their colony ‘chickened out’ of WBC citing ’security reasons’  based on LeT threat. Now I dont know how they get threat perceptions directly from LeT. We had seen England acting as bad losers in many cricket matches, now they were bad losers even before they played here. Now that the tournament has gone without any incident the BWF shud take English Badminton to task & put fines on them. When all others were safe why dont they feel safe? English team were no medal prospects in their own ratings, so they chose this way to be in the news. Was it fear of LeT or fear of getting mauled by the Chinest Tigers?

On the last day Home minister Chidambaram entered the venue, buying tickets like any other aam aadmi – there by sending a strong message that everything was safe. He echoed what any self-respecting Indian had to say “I was burning when England pulled out of WBC” !!

The Winners : Badminton In India was the foremost winner as the game got much needed boost & coverage thru this event. kudos to DD sports for beaming it all live. Just a week prior to WBC, DD Sports had made our junior mens volleyball team household names, by showing their spoils at the Wolrd junior volleyball championships at Pune – now DD sports did the same by taking the game to every household. I am sure many are inspired by the champs & try to get champion shots in their armoury, like I did

chinese supremacy was more than clear with them taking four gold and three silvers in total. The only event without a chinese in the final was mixed doubles. Here are results in a glance:

1)Men’s Singles : Lin Dan outclassed Jin Chen 21-18, 21-16 to complete a hat-trick of world titles

2) Women’s Singles: Lu Lan defeated Xie Xingfang 23-21, 23-12 to take the Gold.

3) Men’s Doubles: Cai Yun and Fu Haifen of China won by 21-18, 16-21, 28-26 in the final against Jae Sung – Yong Dae of South Korea.

4) Women’s Doubles: Yawen Zhang and Tingting Zhao toppled Shu Cheng and Yunlei Zhao 17-21, 21-17, 21-16.

5)Mixed Doubles: Denmark’s Thomas Laybourn and Kamilla Rytter Juhl defeated defending champion Nova Widianto and Liliyana Natsir of Indonesia 21-13, 21-17.

Indian Challenge: While Saina was India’s strongest bet WBC did provide greater exposure to not just other Indian players, but also for the game itself. Saina showed what she is made of by fighting of chicken-pox & getting match to match fitness. Its debabtable if she would have made it to semis at least, but for the pox attack. With her losing in quarters, the indian challenge ended at WBC. Other Indian players did showcase themselves making use of their opporutnity. I watched many matches having Indian players & Chetan, bhat, Jwala-Diju pair did show promise. I too picked up some nice shots the champs played thru the tournament & was able to try it at my time at the nets – hope practice makes me perfect !

Not everything is going ok at the world championship ! The terror alert which was issued yesterday by Indian agencies is not having any effect on the Organizers …. Gopichands Badminton Academy which is the practice venue ,look like any one can walk in , Just a metal detector to on the way , thou there are many security personal around there no one ask any questions nor even bothers who is going past, Of course one if needed can avoid the route and climb over . The main venue still not under full security , The press ID is not issued still , One Journalist from a English Daily was heard saying “This is A Mess ” Committees are formed even now,which raises the question ,Will these guys know what their respective responsibility is ? Our Team found the Glaring board at the Airport Which Said WAY TO RECEPTION WITH THE ARROW MARK .. but the mention of World Championship was not even visible…….Strange but all these are still happenning …. GOD BLESS BAI

Desperate to be back in the court to prepare for the World Championships starting next week, Indian ace shuttler Saina Nehwal today resumed training under coach Pullela Gopichand in his academy in Hyderabad.
A mild chicken pox had threatened her participation in the World Championship but having almost recovered from the illness, Saina today rushed to the academy in the afternoon.
“I had a talk with the doctor and he said if I was feeling good then I can straightaway start my training. So I resumed my training today, played some matches,said ” Saina”
“There is no complication now. I felt all right after the training, in fact I enjoyed it. It is so boring at home and I am happy that I could start training today,” she added.