India's badminton team sent home from Asian Youth Games thanks to BAI delay

The Indian badminton team for the second Asian Youth Games is being sent back without playing a single match. The reason: the Badminton Association of India and the Indian Olympic Association somehow managed to send the entries late for the prestigious event. The Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) has 5 flagship events, namely Asian Games, Asian Winter Games, Asian Indoor & Martial Arts Games, Asian Beach Games and Asian Youth Games. But India’s sports associations couldn’t get their act in order for something as simple as sending applications for the event on time. Acting IOA president VK Malhota, who has to rubber stamp the applications, told Firstpost: “I sent the applications to the OCA as soon as I got them from the badminton association. But we knew that they were already late. So we requested the OCA to remake the draw but they refused.” [caption id=“attachment_1040615” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. Getty Images[/caption] Here’s how the application system works: The associations have to send the number of athletes six months before the event and then closer to the start of the event, you have to send the names of the athletes as well. In the case of the Asian Youth Games, the closing date for the applications was 25 June. But the badminton entries only reached OCA on August 13. The Athletics entries were also sent on the same date – simply put, they were awfully late. “The problem with badminton was that the draw was already made. So the OCA refused to make any changes. In athletics and swimming and a few other sports, there is no draw, so they were accepted.” “I don’t know why the entries were so late. But I tried my best to get them accepted. The athletics entry was sent just three days back,” Malhotra said. One wonders what is worse — accepting that you messed up in one instance or trying to cover that up by saying that there were several other mess-ups too. As it is, India are participating in the Asian Youth Games under the Olympic flag as the country is suspended by the International Olympic Committee. If this is how they work, suspension may not be a bad thing. But why should the athletes have to suffer? According to the sources in the BAI, the badminton association was too caught up in trying to ensure that the Indian Badminton League went off smoothly. That had the attention of all the top officials, which in turn meant that they ‘overlooked’ the Asian Youth Games. The irony of it all is spellbinding. Indian badminton is on an all-time high — PV Sindhu’s bronze at the World Championships has given the sport a huge fillip. Saina is a top draw. P Kashyap and the other men are making their mark too. The BAI is trying to run a million-dollar league but it can’t even send applications on time. Will the BAI answer why the applications were sent late? Will they find a way to justify their ineptitude? How can they explain this? There are times when we wonder why India struggles in sport despite having such a massive population and as if in answer, the callousness of the associations showcases itself with pride time and again. Imagine going all the way to Nanjing, China and then being put on the plane back – not because you have lost but simply because your association was useless. For the youngsters, it would have been a heart-breaking experience. “See, I did everything I could. We tried to get them in the draw but it didn’t happen. What more could I have done?” Malhotra said. Well, for starters, how about an alarm to get all associations to send applications on time. That can’t be too difficult.