Stranded at a hotel in Dubai in a nightmare transit on her way to Birmingham, it is “extremely unlikely” that PV Sindhu will make it in time for the All England Open, which is scheduled to start on Tuesday. Badminton Association of India (BAI) secretary Sanjay Mishra said they were in constant touch with India’s top shuttler, but chances of her being able to travel onwards look very dim.
“We are constantly in touch with her. But right now, things are not in our control, and unfortunately it looks like she might miss the All England. The Badminton World Federation have been very sympathetic, and have assured that they will reschedule any games for players stuck in travel. But as of now, our options are next to nothing,” Mishra said.
The Emirates, that Sindhu was to take to fly to Birmingham, is amongst several airlines that have lodged those stranded, a number close to 20,000, in hotels across Dubai. Several international airlines had announced cancellations for the next few days, with Dutch KLM until Thursday, while Turkish Airlines and Lufthansa suspended them altogether, pointing to a longer drawn aviation crisis.
Coach Vimal Kumar, who was due to fly out to Birmingham on Monday morning from Delhi, has cancelled his travel altogether, while singles player Unnati Hooda was re-booked on a flight via Singapore and is expected to reach Birmingham late on Monday. “The mixed doubles players have reached, and Gopi (Pullela Gopichand) will reach tonight,” Mishra informed.
Lakshya Sen, Ayush Shetty, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, as well as Treesa Jolly-Gayatri Gopichand had managed to fly out in the nick of time, having departed on Friday. Some shuttlers like Malvika Bansod had been competing in Germany and confirmed they had arrived from the mainland. Sindhu, alongwith coach Irwansyah and her team, were unfortunately caught bang in the middle of the chaos, needing to disembark from a boarded flight.
While Sindhu had posted on social media that she was safe and Emirates had been attentive to all her concerns, the air attacks and retaliatory strikes, mean there is no way out in the next 24 hours at least. “She would have explored all options, but there’s no where to go even by road. They are struggling to get out,” Vimal said.
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Earlier, Malaysian independent mixed doubles player Lim Chiew Sin had told Makaysian news outlets from Kuala Lumpur that she was due to fly from Kuala Lumpur via middle east, but rebooked on a Singapore to London flight, followed by a train to Birmingham.
“Fortunately I’m playing on Wednesday so thank god I have time to arrive and get some rest because it will be a long journey. Nobody wants war to happen in this world, right?” she told The Star.
Jonatan Christie, another top shuttler, who recently went independent (hence not with the national squad), had gotten onto a Turkish Airways flight, on March 1. But Dubai to Ankara was 35 hours by road, and deeply dangerous.
Shuttlers from India and the South East Asian countries were the most likely to be impacted. However, both the Thailand and Makaysia squads reported having made their way to Birmingham safely. The Indonesian national team had flown out on February 24, for a two day acclimatization program in Milton Keynes, while the Chinese and Japanese were largely unaffected, transiting through Europe, if at all.
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The BWF put out a release saying, it was keeping a close watch, maintaining “real-time oversight of the situation and stand ready to assist delegations experiencing delays or route changes. This includes reviewing and preparing potential contingencies within the competition schedule should any players experience delayed arrival.”
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