BAI recommends life ban to Jwala Gutta for IBL controversy

The Badminton Association of India’s (BAI) disciplinary committee has recommended a life ban on top Indian doubles shuttler Jwala Gutta for trying to stop some players of her franchise Krrish Delhi Smashers from playing a match against Banga Beats in the IBL. “The disciplinary committee has recommended a life ban or suspension for a certain period of time on Jwala Gutta for her role in the IBL controversy,” a senior BAI official told PTI. “The recommendation has been circulated to the member associations but no decision has been taken as of now. It has not been implemented.” [caption id=“attachment_1154931” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  A controversy had erupted during the August 25 tie when Delhi smashers had threatened to pull out against Banga Beats. AFP[/caption] S. Muralidharan, chairman of BAI’s disciplinary committee, said: “I don’t want to talk about it much. It is the discretion of BAI president Akhilesh Das Gupta and on an unconditional apology, Jwala can be set free. But she should feel apologetic for what happened.” A controversy had erupted during the August 25 tie when Delhi smashers had threatened to pull out against Banga Beats over the last-minute replacement of injured singles player, Hu Yun of Hong Kong with Denmark’s Jan Jorgensen. As an icon player of Delhi Smashers, Jwala was involved in the whole matter, which was resolved after Beats finally left out Jorgensen and played Arvind Bhat, who was already part of the team. Jwala was then served a 14-day showcause notice by BAI for her conduct during the tie, which was delayed by half an hour. Jwala had replied to the notice, saying that ‘it was a decision by the Delhi franchise and not an individual move.’ PTI