India's top badminton players will have to miss out on the Malaysian Open, one of the last events that contribute to Olympic qualification.
The Indian Badminton team had no other choice but to withdraw from the Malaysian Open, scheduled from May 25 to 30, owing to travel restrictions imposed by the Malaysian Government from India. This was announced by the Badminton Association of India (BAI) in a press release on Thursday.
The travel ban came into effect from April 28, 2021.
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,” said the BAI release.
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