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What's the story?
After bowing out in the semifinal of the Australian Badminton Open 2018, B Sumeeth Reddy took to Twitter to question the Badminton Association of India's (BAI) selection policy for the upcoming Asian Games to be held in August in Jakarta, Indonesia.
In case you didn't know...
Sumeeth Reddy and Manu Attri have played together since 2012. The duo has been one of India's best men's doubles pairs over the last few years. They represented the country at the 2014 Asian Games and the 2016 Rio Olympics. However, of late, the young duo of Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy have been hogging all the limelight.
After a struggling through the start of the year, Sumeeth Reddy and Attri have been on a resurgent run for the last couple of weeks. Last week they made it to the quarters of the New Zealand Open while this week they took it a step further as they made it to the semis. However, despite giving a tough fight, they lost to top seeds Berry Angriawan and Hardianto Hardianto of Indonesia.
The heart of the matter
Earlier this week, the BAI had announced that they have decided to alter the calendar and organise two senior ranking competitions as selection events for the Asian Games in August. The decision was taken in a bid to give the domestic circuit a much-needed push.
The BAI had further announced that India's top shuttlers like Saina Nehwal, PV Sindhu, Kidambi Srikanth, HS Prannoy among others would be exempted from participating in these two tournaments. Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy were named as the only men’s doubles pair who would be exempted.
Now, Sumeeth Reddy has voiced his displeasure at not being counted among 'India's top shuttlers' despite being the current national champions. His partner Attri retweeted the tweet to show his support.
What's next?
Courtesy of their impressive run at the Australian Open, Sumeeth Reddy and Attri are set to climb up three places to 25th in next week's BWF World Rankings. If they can keep up their performances, they will definitely get a chance to represent the country in Jakarta.
Author's take
Indeed, Sumeeth Reddy and Attri have been one of India's most consistent pairs in men's doubles. However, one cannot deny that having bagged a historic silver medal at the Commonwealth Games, Chirag and Satwik's pair is the new face in men's doubles.
