Clerical slip costs six Indian players spot at World University Games

The Indian badminton squad that won the mixed team bronze medal at the ongoing World University Games in RhineRuhr Germanyovershadowed by a controversy stemming from a major administrative oversight that left half the squad unable to competeOut of the 12 players selected to represent India at the prestigious event only six were permitted to take the court The remaining six athletes were barred from participation after officials reportedly failed to submit the full list of names during the managers meeting held on July 16This is not just mismanagement its career sabotage We demand answers accountability and that our voices be heard We didnt lose a match we lost our right to even participate wrote Alisha Khan one of the players left out on Instagram This isnt just a mistake Its career sabotage by AIU and our team officials We demand justiceAccording to sources BV Rao and Ajit Mohan were the Association of Indian Universities AIU officials who attended the meeting The AIU which is the nodal body for universitylevel sports in the country acknowledged the incidentWe have been informed about this and the matter is being investigated AIU Secretary Dr Pankaj Mittal told PTI while refusing to comment any furtherAccording to a source the issue was not just an error but stemmed from systematic irregularities starting from the selection trials held at Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology KIIT BhubaneswarDuring the managers meeting officials were given a letter listing all 12 players from India It was their responsibility to read it carefully check for missing or injured players and confirm or adjust the names accordingly However they took it lightly the source saidThe names of players who hadnt attended trials were there They came here only to enjoy In the meeting they also made a basic mistake They were supposed to declare which player would play singles doubles and mixed but didnt process it properlySaneeth Dayanand Sathish Kumar Karunakaran Devika Sihag Tasnim Mir Varshini Viswanath Sri and Vaishnavi Khadkekar were the six who competed in the mixed team eventIndia defeated Macau but lost to Hong Kong in the group stage then beat the USA in the round of 16 and Malaysia in the quarterfinals before losing to Chinese Taipei in the semifinalsRohan Kumar Darshan Pujari Aditi Bhatt Abhinash Mohanty Viraj Kuvale and Alisha Khan were part of the 12member squad but did not get to playPujari has written to the Badminton Association of India BAI demanding a thorough investigationThis level of mismanagement has caused significant emotional distress to the affected athletes The players who were left out of the nomination list have been unfairly denied the chance to contribute on the field and be acknowledged as part of this achievement he wrote in his emailThe selection trials were held in April at KIIT Bhubaneswar with over 210 players including toptier national and international university athletes participatingHowever a source as per news agency PTI alleged that the players who actually topped the trials were left out of the mixed team event despite being part of the squadThe team manager made the blunder The officials didnt focus during the meeting and after the trials they didnt follow the proper process They just submitted six names so the other six were not allowed by FISU the source saidthe team travelled all the way and yet in the managers meeting they missed out names I dont know how it is possible to overlook such a basic responsibilityPlayers have been misled throughout officials are giving them false hopes about participation and medals in individual events If the players are robbed of their chance like this it is unacceptableA player also alleged that officials goofed up on the team jerseys which didnt carry the countrys name properly leading to fineSimilar complaint from 400m runner Devyani BazalaWoman quartermiler Devyani Bazala also alleged that she could not compete as her name has gone missing because of late alteration by the officials in submitting the confirmation listI have been preparing for this event for over a year but when the start list for Day 1 came out my name went missing from 400m women list she wrote in a social media post datelined Bochum in GermanyIt has a major impact on my life and my sporting career it really takes a lot of sacrifice courage and passion to be here Who is to be blamedWith PTI inputs