Omar Rashid: BAI may be forced to reduce domestic events if Coronavirus persists

The pandemic virus disease outbreak continues its widespread as shuttlers in India have remained indoors in their respective houses in the past couple of weeks amid the COVID-19 virus.

However, if this spread of the virus doesn’t come to an end, in a month, the Badminton Association of India might be forced to take some drastic actions.

The BAI is considering thinking about drastically reducing the number of national events this year.

Usually, at times like this during a calendar year, the Badminton Association of India announces their domestic and international calendar, which shows the laid down plans for a year. But since the country is now in lockdown for about three weeks, the National events have to be suspended till further notice.

The Association has now revealed officially that the 84th edition of the event[ Senior National Badminton Championships ] scheduled to begin on the 27th of April has now been postponed indefinitely.

The secretary for BAI Tournaments and events Omar Rashid has said that the national governing body of badminton has been experiencing hard times.

He added; we are experiencing hard times. To be honest, hosting a badminton tournament is the last thing on our minds for now. I am hoping and praying all our shuttlers to stay free from the pandemic disease. The safety of our players is our utmost priority, and I am appealing to all players of all categories to remain indoors and stay in their respective houses for the next few weeks, at least”.

Omar added that the domestic calendar would experience a halt if the virus continues across the country.

We finally made plans to postpone the senior nationals as the President [Jimanta Biswa Sarma] held long hours of discussions with the committee members as they finally decided to postpone the tournament. However, if the situation doesn’t improve, then we might have to several India ranking tournaments”.

Written by: Olumide Akinnifesi