Selvamresh Supramaniam talks down the debate about suspicious withdrawals – Badminton News
The Badminton World Federation (BWF) official Selvamresh Supramaniam played down the doubts about much talked suspicious withdrawals of top shuttlers from international events.
There were rumours that the top badminton players may pull-out their names from Yonex Sunrise India Open just before or during the event also as couple of players did in the Swiss Open and German Open few weeks back.
In Swiss Open, the prime shuttlers like the Chinese World Number one female Wang Yihan and World Number six Jiang Yanjiao along with the Danish male shuttler Peter Hoeg Gade took leave citing injury.
The questions were raised on their sudden injuries as absence of world class shuttlers always harms the worth of an event.
But Selvamresh, who is in India to inspect the arrangements of India Open, defended those shuttlers by saying that back-to-back events always cause physical damages to the shuttlers.
He said, “Both players have cited fatigue, which is understandable considering the last few months have seen a number of important tournaments.”
BWF has came under fire in the past also for their incapability to tackle the suspicious withdrawals from some countries as the purpose of these walkovers is always the same, to support low ranked players to get higher in the world rankings.
China has done this many times in the past to ensure the maximum entries and favourable draws in prestigious events like Olympics. Malaysia and Japan raised their voices against Chinese manipulation.
But the BWF representative and marketing manager of Super series Selvamresh plays down the chances of any country manipulating its position in this way. He thinks players are honest to their game and they withdraw just to avoid overstraining before the mega
event.
Selvamresh said, “There is no proof of any wrongdoing. A player’s performance is very subjective. The players may choose to avoid certain events to focus on their preparation for the Olympics.”
Meanwhile, Selvamresh hoped that world class shuttlers will ensure their presence in India Open as its going to be the last event before the Olympics qualification period ends in May and players will have a good chance to earn some valuable ranking points.
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