Harpal Singh Bedi
Union sports minister Kiren Rijiju on Monday assured the Badminton Association of India (BAI) all help and support to hold prestigious Yonex Sunrise India Open Super series next year.
The tournament is scheduled to be played at the Indira Gandhi Stadium in New Delhi from March 30 to April 4. The 2020 edition was cancelled due to a coronavirus outbreak.
The tournament being also an Olympic qualifier, world’s top players including Indian shuttlers are keen to participate in order to book themselves a 2021 Tokyo Olympic berth .
However, with the current 14-day quarantine rule in place for international travellers, foreign shuttlers have expressed a need for relaxation in quarantine rules in order to travel for the Super 500 tournament.
BAI Secretary Ajay Singhania called on sports minister Kiren Rijiju here today to the staging of the India Open .
In the meeting Singhania put forward the relaxation request so that foreign players’ participation becomes possible. “Yonex Sunrise India Open will be a crucial Olympic qualifier tournament and players are very interested to come and play, especially as many shuttlers are yet to confirm their berths for the Olympics.discuss the comeback of badminton in India with
” I explained the situation to the Sports Minister in detail and requested him to consider the current international practice of a mandatory 72-hour prior test and negative certification instead of 14-day quarantine,” Singhania said.
According to the BAI secretary the Sports Minister assured all help in organising the tournament ‘“Kiren Rijiju ji has assured to resolve the issue and provide all necessary support.
” As much as BAI and the Sports Ministry is keen to bring back the badminton action in India. I hope we will get to see badminton making a resounding return to India with the Indian Open Superseries,” he added.