Danish badminton player and world no. 23 Mia Blichfeldt has slammed the playing conditions of the India Open Super 750 badminton tournament being held in Delhi. The 27-year-old player criticised the pollution levels in the national capital and the organisation of the tournament, terming the conditions "unhealthy and unacceptable."
The player, after her 21-13 16-21 8-21 loss in the second round against China’s Wang Zhi Yi, wrote in a post on Instagram, "Finally home after a long and stressful week in India. It’s 2 years in a row now that I get sick during India Open,” Blichfeldt wrote on January 18.
"It’s really hard to accept that many weeks of work and preparing, gets wasted because of bad conditions. It’s not fair to anyone that we have to train and play in smog, birds shitting on the courts, and dirt everywhere. These conditions are too unhealthy and unacceptable. @bwf.official. I’m happy that I managed the second round, but I’m far from satisfied.”
Meanwhile, the Badminton Association of India (BAI), said that it faced "logistical challenges” after getting the venue just four days before the event and it is looking for ”alternative venues” to host the event.
"As the host and staging authority for the Yonex Sunrise India Open, the Badminton Association of India gains access to the stadium and its infrastructure only four days before the event, which poses significant logistical challenges,” BAI secretary Sanjay Mishra said in a statement on Saturday as reported by news agency PTI.
"We are already in discussions with the BWF to explore alternative venues and are actively evaluating the infrastructure options,” he added.
Following her loss on Thursday, Blichfeldt told the BWF media team that she had thrown up all night and was barely able to get on the court the next day for her second round match. ”That night (Tuesday) was terrible. The only sleep I got was in the morning because I kept throwing up all night. I’m really tired now and my body is really dead,” Blichfeldt had said. ”It’s not so nice for me, but I’m happy with the match I pulled yesterday and the outcome today but I wish I could have gone to court at 100 per cent. It happened Tuesday evening. It took a lot of mental work (to get on court). ”It’s really frustrating when you’ve been training to come to these tournaments and then this is one of the things that stops you from performing.”
Also, French mixed doubles pair of Thom Gicquel and Delphine Delrue had expressed concerns about the weather conditions on Thursday. "The playing hall is pretty nice. But the weather is pretty cold here in Delhi and the pollution is really high right now, so it’s not easy to play, not the best conditions to play in,” Gicquel had said. This is not an isolated incident, as during the 2023 Syed Modi International Super 300 tournament, foreign players had also raised concerns about the poor conditions at the Babu Banarasi Das Indoor Stadium, citing issues such as bird droppings and dust-laden courts.
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