BAI seeks quarantine relaxation for foreign players participating in India Open 2021

To ensure the smooth conduct of the India Open in 2021, the Badminton Association of India (BAI) General Secretary Ajay Singhania has sought the relaxation of existing quarantine rules during a meeting with the Honourable Sports Minister of India Kiren Rijiju.

The spike in the number of COVID-19 cases in India had forced the prestigious BWF tournament to be postponed from March this year to December before the event got cancelled altogether. BAI is thus leaving no stone unturned to bring back the tournament next year and has already announced that the tournament has been scheduled from March 30 to April 4.

The tournament will have added importance, as it happens to be an Olympic qualifier as well. That would guarantee an influx of top shuttlers from all over the globe, who are looking to seal their berths in the Tokyo Olympics.

However, the current 14-day quarantine rules in place for foreign shuttlers could jeopardise the situation and cause problems in the successful hosting of the tournament.

BAI General Secretary Ajay Singhania thus met the Sports Minister to discuss the same. He put forward a request to relax the existing 14-day quarantine for foreign players in favour of the mandatory 72-hour prior test and negative certification.

“Yonex Sunrise India Open will be a crucial Olympic qualifier tournament and players are very interested to come and play, especially as many shuttlers are yet to confirm their berths for the Olympics," said Ajay Singhania in a press statement.

Singhania further added in this regard:

"I have explained the situation to the Hon’ble Sports Minister in detail and requested him to consider the current international practice of a mandatory 72-hour prior test and negative certification instead of a 14-day quarantine."

Sports Minister assures all help to BAI for hosting the 2021 India Open

The India Open has been India's premier badminton tournament for more than a decade. Since 2011, it has been held in New Delhi and was given the status of a BWF Superseries tournament before it became a BWF Super 500 event in 2018.

Over the years, it has witnessed elite shuttlers like Lee Chong Wei, Viktor Axelsen, Son Wan Ho, Ratchanok Intanon, Carolina Marin, Kento Momota and Shi Yuqi competing in the event. With the Tokyo Olympics scheduled to be held from July 23, 2021, there will be a massive demand for sealing Olympic berths at the India Open next year.

BAI is doing its best to stage the tournament and has been assured of all assistance by the Sports Ministry in this regard.

“Kiren Rijiju ji has assured to resolve the issue and provide all necessary support. As much as BAI and the Sports Ministry is keen to bring back the badminton action in India, I hope we will get to see badminton making a resounding return to India with the India Open Superseries,” Singhania said.