India withdraws from Malaysia Open due to travel ban

The Indian badminton team on Thursday withdrew from the Malaysian Open, scheduled to take place from May 25 to May
30, due to a travel ban on Indian citizens entering the country.

“Indian Badminton Team will have to
withdraw from the Malaysian Open, scheduled from May 25-30, owing to a
temporary travel restriction imposed by the Malaysian Government on travellers
from India. The ban came into effect from April 28, 2021”, news agency ANI
quoted Spots Authority of India (SAI) as saying regarding the issue.

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The event, which contributes to a chance of
qualification to the Tokyo Olympics 2020 for shuttlers, will see all Indian
shuttlers, including top names such as Saina Nehwal, Kidambi Srikanth, PV
Sindhu and Sai Praneeth miss out on the opportunity.

Meanwhile, Badminton Association of India (BAI) General Secretary Ajay Kumar said they will continue to explore avenues to ensure Indian shuttlers do not miss out on crucial qualification events ahead of the Olympics. 

“Indian nationals won’t be allowed
in Malaysia as well as in Singapore, this is already in public knowledge. This
is why we had written to both the Member Countries to consider our request as a
special case with respect to the Olympic qualification of some of our players.

The matter has been taken up with BWF as well and we are awaiting Badminton
Malaysia’s response. Until they decline any possibility we will continue to
pursue every opportunity that we have to send our shuttlers,” he was quoted as saying in a BAI tweet.

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The Malaysian government’s ban on Indian
citizens came into effect on April 28.

The last qualification event before Tokyo
Olympics is the Singapore Open.

Singapore, however, has introduced a
mandatory 14-day quarantine as well as a seven-day stay-at-home notice for
those coming from India.