While preparing for his campaign at the World Championships in Hyderabad with his mixed doubles partner Jwala Gutta, it did not occur to V Diju to check if the Badminton Association of India (BAI) had sent his entry for the China Masters Super Series to be held a month later.

Though the BAI on Friday blamed the players for the fiasco in a written statement released to the media, Diju said they had not told him that he needed to send written entries after having once submitted an entire list of tournaments for the year.

“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.

... contd.