Malaysia Open Tour: Saina, Srikanth’s hopes hang in balance

There is still uncertainty over the Indian’s participation in the Super750 tournament in Malaysia

Hyderabad: The Indian team’s participation in the Malaysia Open Tour Super 750, which is scheduled to start from May 25 to 30, still hangs in balance. The Indian authorities are making efforts for the shuttlers’ participation as it is crucial for players like Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth.

The Sports Ministry, through the Ministry of External Affairs, has approached the Malaysian Government requesting to grant permission to the Indian badminton team to travel to Malaysia.

---

This is in light of a temporary travel ban that has been imposed by Malaysia on travellers from India, owing to the rising Covid-19 cases in India.

After the initial request made earlier this week, the Indian High Commission in Malaysia received information from the Malaysian Government that the travel of the team may not be possible immediately.

With 19 days left for the start of the tournament, there are still some hopes as the possibility of travelling to Malaysia cannot be ruled out.

The Malaysian 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 are due to participate in this tournament.

This tournament is one of the two windows left for Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth to qualify for the July Tokyo Olympics. After the India Open World Tour 500 event in New Delhi, which was scheduled to be held from May 11 to 16 was postponed due to Covid-19, there were two more windows in Malaysian Open and Singapore Open World Tour Super 500 (June 1 to 6).

So far, PV Sindhu, B Sai Praneeth, and doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty have qualified for the Tokyo Olympics.

---

Now you can get handpicked stories from Telangana Today on Telegram everyday. Click the link to subscribe.

Click to follow Telangana Today Facebook page and Twitter .