Don’t blame us,players tell BAI

“We’d submitted a list of tournaments 3-4 months ago where we’d said we wanted to play all Super Series and Grand Prix Gold events till the end of this year. We’ve played Singapore,Malaysia and Indonesia before and had never written to BAI before each of them,because they would send the entries. We were to inform them only if we were withdrawing. I was never told that I’m to start informing them a second time,” he said.

The Diju-Jwala combine,like Saina Nehwal,now stand to lose in rankings and might miss the chance to qualify for the year-ending Super Series Masters because they are not playing the China event.

The press release issued by BAI said the players had sent their entries to its office later than the last date of August 11,on August 12 and August 17,adding that the BAI officer had immediately forwarded these entries,but the world body had rejected them. The BAI added that players were now expected to confirm in writing — at least a week before the closing date — their participation as per world body regulations,as withdrawals incur a penalty of $250.

Once bitten,shuttler Diju insisted he’d now inform the administrators twice — just to be sure. “If I knew I was to inform them before every tournament I would have written to them two times that I want to play.”