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BAI writes to BWF after postponement of Malaysia Open
ANI
07 May 2021, 22:18 GMT+10
New Delhi [India], May 7 (ANI): Following the postponement of the Malaysia Open, the Badminton Association of India (BAI) has reached out to the world body, Badminton World Federation (BWF) asking for clarity on the qualification scenario for its shuttlers and future course of action. The Super 750 event was scheduled from May 25-30 and also considered an Olympic qualification tournament. With four of its players, PV Sindhu, B Sai Praneeth, Chirag Shetty, and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, have already sealed places for Tokyo, BAI expecting few more players to qualify including Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth.
Indian badminton team withdraws from Malaysian Open
ANI
06 May 2021, 22:55 GMT+10
New Delhi [India], May 6 (ANI): The Indian badminton team has withdraw from the Malaysian Open, scheduled from May 25 to 30, owing to a temporary travel restriction imposed by the Malaysian government on travellers from India.
The ban came into effect from April 28. The tournament is one of the last events that contribute to Olympic qualification which ends on June 15.
All top Indian singles and doubles players like PV Sindhu, Saina Nehwal, Kidambi Srikanth, Sai Praneeth, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, Chirag Shetty, Ashwini Ponnappa and Sikki Reddy were due to participate. The Sports Ministry, through the Ministry of External Affairs, approached the Malaysian authorities requesting to permit the Indian team to participate, but owing to the rise in Covid-19 cases in India, the Malaysian government has informed the Indian High Commission in Malaysia that the travel of the team cannot be presently permit
Published on: Wednesday, May 05, 2021
By: Bernama
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Lee Zii Jia receiving his second dose of the Covid-19 vaccine at the DBKL Sports Complex on Tuesday. – Bernama photo
Kuala Lumpur: Reigning All England champion Lee Zii Jia hopes to do well in the two remaining Olympic qualifying tournaments – Malaysia Open and Singapore Open – so as to boost his confidence ahead of the Tokyo Games in July.
The 23-year-old Kedahan said both the tournaments were important warm-ups to the July 23-Aug 8 Tokyo Olympics.
Having just resumed training last Friday after nearly two weeks of quarantine following the detection of 15 Covid-19 cases at the Akademi Badminton Malaysia (ABM), Zii Jia admitted that time was running out to get ready for the Malaysia Open (May 25-30) and Singapore Open (June 1-6).