BAI only embarrasses itself with proposed life ban for Gutta

It seems this is a season for life bans. The BCCI has banned two cricketers for life for spot-fixing and is on the verge of banning a third. Now the Badminton Association of India (BAI) appears to be scared that they will be left out unless they take some drastic steps and find someone to ban for life. How else can one justify BAI disciplinary committee’s recommendation of death penalty against Jwala Gutta for an offense that only merited a rap on the knuckles and maybe a fine? Or perhaps a suspension from the next season of the Indian Badminton League (IBL), if they wanted to send a strong message. But a life ban is completely unwarranted. Jwala was given a show-cause notice for her conduct during Krrish Delhi Smashers’ last league encounter against Banga Beats in Bangalore, which was delayed by half an hour after the 2011 World championship bronze medallist protested the last minute replacement of a player by the opposition. [caption id=“attachment_1157017” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Jwala was given a show-cause notice for her conduct during Krrish Delhi Smashers’ last league encounter against Banga Beats in Bangalore. AFP[/caption] The BAI notice also claims that Jwala did not allow B Sai Praneeth, who was ready to play the team’s opening match, to go on the court thereby delaying the live telecast and also bringing the apex body to disrepute. The most appalling part in this entire episode was the logic given by the disciplinary committee to recommend a life ban. According to a report in the Indian Express, the disciplinary committee headed by BAI vice president S Muralidharan did not go into the merit of Jwala’s response to the notice and felt that the 2010 Commonwealth Games gold medallist was not apologetic enough and hence should be banned for life unless she gives a written apology to the BAI president. I have been following Indian badminton for a decade now and have been witness to individual egos taking precedence over rules and regulations laid down by the constitution. But in the last few years, the administrators seem to have lost a sense of balance. How else can one justify the IBL organisers dilly dallying on the appointment of the tournament’s chief referee till the last minute because one Governing Council member had a personal dislike towards the man they wanted to appoint or the BAI threatening a senior official with dire consequences because someone had questioned the progress of IBL preparations as a response to his comments about the tournament on his Facebook page. During the tournament itself, senior BAI officials were seen throwing tantrums because they were not given enough importance during the presentation ceremony or were not introduced in the “correct manner” to the guests of the day. The President’s loyal supporters are even upset that Dr Akhilesh Das Gupta was not given enough credit for conceptualising the IBL and are pushing for strict action against commercial partners, Sporty Solutionz, who were responsible for the conduct of the tournament. From the outsider’s perspective, most of these issues would be dismissed as trivial but the ferocity with which the BAI officials fought for their “rights” only succeeded in making a laughing stock out of them. And the recent recommendation of the life ban on Jwala only serves to reinforce this view. While the BAI is so concerned about the “disrepute” Jwala brought to the country and the sport by delaying the match, the apex governing body hasn’t even issued a memo (leave aside ordering an inquiry) to those responsible for sending late entries of the Indian team for the 2nd Asian Youth Games in Nanjing, China, which resulted in the six member Indian team returning from the continental event without playing a single match. In private conversations, most state association members would speak at length about what is wrong within the BAI but are quick to make a U-turn when it comes to voicing their concerns at the General Body meeting or on the appropriate forums available to them. It is reliably learnt that the BAI president is also not very keen on imposing the ban but some officials are pushing the president’s hand because they see this as an opportunity to “teach a lesson” to Jwala – who they claim has rubbed many officials the wrong way with her outspoken ways in the past. What is most disconcerting for a genuine badminton lover is the fact that when Indian badminton is on the rise and the BAI should have utilised this period to consolidate the gains from a successful IBL, they are busy settling petty rivalries and mollycoddling egos.