NEW DELHI: The organisers of the ongoing India Open continue to face the heat. A day after Denmark player complained about the playing conditions at the ongoing India Open badminton, another Danish shuttler — World No 3 Anders Antonsen — spoke of the reason for him to skip the event in New Delhi. This comes as some India players pointed out that there are glitches even in competitions held abroad. If this was not enough, players have posted clips of monkeys in the venue during play.
On the opening day, Mia Blichfeldt raised concerns about conditions in the competition arena — the Indira Gandhi Sports Complex at New Delhi. It is cold inside the stadium too. And now, barely 24 hours later Antonsen took to social media to make some scathing remarks on his decision to skip the tournament. He said that it was because of the 'extreme pollution' that he did not want to come.
In the same post, the World No 3 raised concerns about the city's ability to conduct badminton events including the upcoming World Championships which is scheduled to be held at the same venue later this year. Antonsen had pulled out some 10 days ago. Hygiene is another issue plaguing the competition.
"Many are curious as to why I have pulled out of the India Open for the third consecutive year. Due to extreme pollution in Delhi at the moment I don't think it's a place to host a badminton tournament," the 2025 French Open winner said. As on Wednesday, the Air Quality Index in the capital city was 228, and was labelled as severe.
Antonsen is hopeful that things will take a turn for good ahead of the World Championships, which is a Grade 1 event, in August. "Crossing my fingers that it will be better in the Summer when the World Championships will take place in Delhi. As a result, BWF once again fined me 5000 USD."
Ahead of the much-hyped World Championships to be hosted in August this year, the stadium itself needs a major overhaul in terms of hygiene and upkeep. To add to the woes, there is a video clip that's showing a monkey in the stands apparently during competition.
However, Kidambi Srikanth come out in support of the organisers including Badminton Association of India saying, "the conditions are absolutely fine" and that he had "to wait an hour in Denmark for my match during the 2016-17 season because the lights went out." The IG Stadium's maintenance is under the Sports Authority of India.