Sports India

The Indian badminton squad currently training in Malaysia has been left without any top men’s shuttler after the lone presence — World No. 46 Arvind Bhat — returned back following an ankle injury.

The country’s top shuttler World No. 20 Chetan Anand had already decided not to attend the Badminton Association of India (BAI) camp, instead choosing to train by himself.

There was further bad news on the preparation front when World No. 34 Anup Sridhar was forced to forego his training stint in Denmark due to unreasonable demands by the club there. Sridhar is scheduled to play just 14 matches there, but the club wants his commitment till the end of December.

“It would have been a great opportunity to play against the top Danish shuttlers there and hone my skills, but they want me to stay till December. There are several important tournaments coming up not least the Asian Games in Doha and I don’t want to miss them.

“So, I have to train in Hyderabad. There’s no point in going to Malaysia either since by the time I get my visa in order, I will just be left with one week of training time,” Sridhar said. Bhat is currently undergoing treatment and a rehabilitation programme in Bangalore. He will join Sridhar at the camp in Hyderabad on July 31.

With the senior women’s players like Aparna Popat, Trupti Murgunde and Jwala Gutta also skipping the camp, it’s only the juniors who are left in Malaysia and to think that the Malaysians have assembled the world’s top players to train with the Indians.

Former great Misbun Sidek, a contemporary of Prakash Padukone, is overseeing training at the National Centre with World No. 9 Muhammad Hafiz B Hashim, World No. 19 Ben Hong Kuan and World No. 52 M Roslin Hashim lining up to spar with the Indians.