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Controversy struck Indian badminton on Saturday as news broke that the Badminton Association of India has made the decision to shift the national doubles camp to the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium in Delhi, in place of the usual venue in Hyderabad. The reason behind the decision is believed to be the long-standing feud between doubles star Jwala Gutta and national coach Pullela Gopichand, as the southpaw is not ready to enter the former All-England Champion's academy.
This is expected to have a highly detrimental effect on the shuttlers' preparations for the Asian and Commonwealth Games next year as it would mean that national doubles coach, Kim Tan Her, will not be able to oversee the practice in Hyderabad. This is not the first time that Gopichand and Gutta have been at loggerheads and their spat has been on for many years now.
Earlier today on Sunday, Gutta tweeted out her stand on this controversy, stating that the whole situation has been blown out of proportion and that her issue has always been the lack of attention given to doubles. She added that she had earlier gone to court only to defend her right to play and that she had no personal grudge against anybody.
Here are the tweets:
Badminton in India has been on the rise and while the singles stars have been winning accolades across the world in both men's and women's categories, the doubles shuttlers have also been making steady progress. At the recently concluded World Championships, they put up a fine show, which was also praised by Gopichand after the conclusion.
It remains to be seen how this situation plays out in the coming days. A combined camp in one place will be the ideal preparation but if the split is to take place, one can only hope that it does not have too much of an effect.
