CHENNAI: ACE shuttlers PV Sindhu and B Sai Praneeth could be back on court early next month, which could make them among the first athletes to resume standard training which has currently been put off.
Badminton Association of India (BAI) is hopeful that those with a chance to qualify for Olympics can resume training at Gopichand Badminton Academy in the first week of June. “Some players are keen on resumption. Some are hesitant. They are aware of the plans we have,” said BAI general secretary Ajay Singhania.
Many factors need to come together for the plan to materialise. Chief among them is permission from Telangana government. “We are hopeful that they will permit us. As soon as we get the green light, we shall get them on court.”
As of now, BAI wants to keep the number of returnees to a bare minimum. Singhania said he has been in touch with chief coach Pullela Gopichand and added that the federation is in the process of finalising a standard operating procedure. “Our priority is safety of players. We don’t want to rush. Our aim for now is to bring a few players back to training.”
Badminton World Federation had recently published a revised calendar. According to it, BAI has the task of organising three international events — Hyderabad Open (Aug 11-16), Syed Modi India International (Nov 17-22) and India Open (Dec 8-13) — this year.
Singhania said BAI has informed BWF about the government guidelines and specifically said that these will be followed while hosting events.
“We’ll see how things are then. Japanese officials have said they are unlikely to conduct Olympics without a vaccine. That is scheduled for nexy July, August. So for us to say anything about India Open makes no sense. We’ll follow guidelines and be ready to host all the tournaments.”