Date:06/05/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/05/06/stories/2007050603401800.htm

Sport - Badminton

Players unavailable for trials not to be selected

Principal Correspondent

HYDERABAD: National men's champion B. Chetan Anand and National women's doubles champions Gutta Jwala and Shruthi Kurien will not be part of the Indian team for next month's Sudirman Cup team championship in Scotland if they don't attend the selection trials commencing from Sunday at the Gachibowli Stadium here.

"The trials are a final gesture of our flexibility towards these players," said V.K. Verma, president of the Badminton Association of India in an exclusive interview with The Hindu.

He revealed that these shuttlers figured in the team list finalised in March for the same tournament. "Since they have been skipping the camp despite the diktat that absentees from the on-going national camp will not be considered for selection, we are forced to conduct the selections from May 6 to 8. The BAI has to finalise the team by May 10 for the Sudirman Cup," he explained.

The BAI chief also dismissed the argument that the trials were being held at short notice. "When these players claim they are having their own training programmes, they should be fit enough for any test, especially when they are planning to compete in international events," he countered. He said the Indian contingent for the Sudirman Cup was Anup Sridhar and Chetan Anand (as stand-bye for singles) for the men's competition, Sanave Thomas and Rupesh Kumar for the doubles and V. Diju and Aparna Balan for the mixed doubles. For the women's events, Saina Nehawal and Aditi Mutadkar (first stand-bye) for the singles and Gutta Jwala and Shruthi Kurien for the doubles have been chosen. By not coming to the camp, these shuttlers have left three vacant slots which have to be filled by May 10. And it is not just that they attend the trials, but they also have to join the camp from May 14 till the team's departure for the Sudirman Cup. Or else, they will not be considered to represent India," V.K. Varma said.

The trials will be monitored by BAI observer S.A. Shetty from Maharashtra and he will be assisted by IBF referee Phani Rao.