Indian ace shuttler Parupalli Kashyap has expressed his disappointment with the Badminton World Federation (BWF) for not freezing the players’ rankings amidst the Coronavirus outbreak globally. The COVID-19 outbreak has led to the cancelation of the Olympic qualifying tournaments which has left the athletes and left on the cliff hanger as to when it will take place.
Kashyap and his wife and fellow shuttler Saina Nehwal were both in the run of qualifying for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. There have been reports that the qualification tournaments would be extended in the light of the events getting canceled now.
“I hope there’s some effort being made to extend/change the qualification period. The ranking is still not frozen .. points of last years Swiss open have been removed. ATP froze the ranking .. we should learn from tennis. Disappointing!” Kashyap wrote on his twitter handle.
I hope there’s some effort being made to extend/change the qualification period . The ranking is still not frozen .. points of last years Swiss open have been removed . ATP froze the ranking .. we should learn from tennis . Disappointing !
— Parupalli Kashyap (@parupallik) March 20, 2020
The Olympic qualification was to end on April 28 with the top 16 ranked players getting the tickets to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Owing to their ranks, Saina and Kidambi inching towards the qualification rounds. But for that, they would need to improve their rankings and if all tournaments being put on hold in the wake of the deadly virus, there is a little hope of them making into the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
Parupalli Kashyap had termed the statement by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), encouraging the athletes to continue with their training in the isolation by also joking, saying it “makes no sense” as the government has shut down all the training camps and centers due to the deadly virus outbreak across the country.
