SAI U-turn after BAI says India not withdrawn from Oly qualifiers Thu, May 06 2021 10:13:35 PM New Delhi, May 6 (IANS): There seems to be a communication gap between the Sports Authority of India (SAI) and the Badminton Association of India (BAI). Just over an hour after SAI announced that the Indian badminton team had withdrawn from this month's Malaysia Open Super 750 tournament, BAI contradicted the statement saying it was still in talks with the Malaysian government for allowing Indians to compete there. SAI subsequently did a U-turn on its initial statement. Malaysia has put a travel ban on Indians due to the raging Covid-19 pandemic. But the tournament is important for Indian shuttlers as Malaysia Open Super 750 -- and the Singapore Open Super 500 tournament on June 1-6 -- are the last qualification events for this year's Tokyo Olympic Games. The withdrawal of the Indian team from these events would mean the end of hope to qualify for the likes of former world No.1 players Kidambi Srikanth and Saina Nehwal.