Not long ago, doubles player Prajakta Sawant questioned the selection of the Indian badminton team for the South Asian Games (Saig) to be held in Nepal, and said that for this regional multi-sport competition, players were selected who did not even play domestic tournaments. The Badminton Association of India (BAI), however, denied any allegations of discrimination, saying that the players were selected on the basis of the eligibility rules. Prajakta raised several tweets, questioned the selection of the team and appealed to BAI President Himanta Biswa Sarma to look into the matter. Prajakta wrote on his Twitter handle, “SAF Games team for Badminton is already decided unofficially..players are putting stories on Instagram and Facebook of arriving at Nepal. On what basis the selection has been done?? @himantabiswa @BAI_Media I think media must take a look in the selection."
According to information received from sources, Sarma clarified that there was no discrimination in the selection of the team. Sarma told PTI, "BAI has selected the team for the tournament based on the selection eligibility fixed." The selection of the team for the South Asian Games has also been done on the basis of eligibility, which is according to the affidavits filed by the BAI in Delhi High Court and Kerala High Court. No one was favored. According to Saig's official website entries, women's doubles players Kuhu Garg, Meghna Jakkampudi and Anushka Parikh have been included in the 11-member squad of India, while Shikha Gautam and Ashwini Bhat have not found a place in the team. Shikha and Ashwini won the national championship title for the first time this year.
For information, let us tell you that Prajakta declared the absence of Shikha and Ashwini as unjust. She tweeted, "Injustice is happening again and again Nationals champions of Woman doubles 2019 are not included in Indian team for SAF Games..
Teams are send for tournaments before it’s officially announced what the @BAI_Media and @himantabiswa is doing.."
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