Malaysian Open: Oly hopes of Indian shuttlers in limbo as travel restriction sees team withdraw from event

The Indian badminton team has withdraw from the Malaysian Open, scheduled from May 25 to 30, owing to a temporary travel restriction imposed by the Malaysian government on travellers from India.

The Indian badminton team has withdraw from the Malaysian Open, scheduled from May 25 to 30, owing to a temporary travel restriction imposed by the Malaysian government on travellers from India. The ban came into effect from April 28. The tournament is one of the last events that contribute to Olympic qualification which ends on June 15.

All top Indian singles and doubles players like PV Sindhu, Saina Nehwal, Kidambi Srikanth, Sai Praneeth, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, Chirag Shetty, Ashwini Ponnappa and Sikki Reddy were due to participate. "The Sports Ministry, through the Ministry of External Affairs, approached the Malaysian authorities requesting to permit the Indian team to participate, but owing to the rise in Covid-19 cases in India, the Malaysian government has informed the Indian High Commission in Malaysia that the travel of the team cannot be presently permitted," an official statement read.

Last month, India Open 2021 was postponed due to the upsurge in coronavirus cases here in the national capital. India Open is classified as BWF World Tour Super 500 event and was one of the last few qualification events for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. The tournament was to be conducted behind closed doors at the KD Jadhav Indoor Hall in New Delhi from May 11-16. (ANI)

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