Shuttlecocks will be made available in March: BAI

PATIALA: Days after a national camp had to be called off due to lack of shuttlecocks, Badminton Association of India (BAI) has finally woken up to the bizarre crisis, saying all required material would be made available to players by next month.
    
BAI vice-President T P S Puri said here shuttlecocks will be made available after the second week of March and much before the start of Indian Grand Pix at Hyderabad in April.
   
Talking over phone he once again cited bird flu as the reason for the shortage and said the association will import shuttlecocks on its own as per a new policy of the Sports Ministry.
    
The new guidelines make it clear that the respective federations have to make all the arrangements be it shuttlecocks, pellets or bows and arrows when they organise a national training camps.
    
The Sports Authority of India (SAI) has told federations and associations to organise national camps on their own and then claim for reimbursements on expenses incurred, official sources said.
    
India has imported 10,000 dozen shuttlecocks from Yonex, Japan, which were manufactured in China.
    
Puri said, "abandoning the national squad's training camp ahead of the Thomas and Uber Cup qualifiers is a huge setback."
    
He said that the Hyderabad Grand Prix, to be held in April, will be the last qualification tournament for the Olympics.